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How to get over the 8 month hump?

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stigzler:

So, suddenly after 8 months of designing, planning, cutting, swearing and elation I find my first cab build leering at me and sneering that I'm never gonna finish it! It's turned from a dream project into my very own white elephant.

Weird thing is I think I'm on the finishing straight - cab assembled, just needing finish, sideart and then wiring + putting everything together. I...just...can't...do..another..damn..thing..on..it!

Tried taking a break, tried ignoring it (it's a bit too big now to ignore - sits in my porch mocking every time I get home).

It's turned into a monster. Should I burn it?

Am I alone in my cab build hell?

 :afro:

vorghagen:

You are most definitely not alone.
Since starting my cab I've bought 3 cars, moved twice, got married and had a kid. It's been a little over 6 years since starting it. Progress has been sporadic at best. But I'm still keen to finish it, it's just finding the time.
Probably doesn't help that each time I go back to it I have to backtrack a little to remember where I'm up to.

Malenko:

get it working and playable, then never finish it, just like everyone else.

thatpurplestuff:

I built a Skeeball machine from the ground up, wrote custom software for it, wired up the switches, built the net, painted it, and yet it's sat for the last 2 years unfinished because I am too lazy to install the PVC sleeve covers on the legs.  Literally all I need to do is finish the legs and swap out a faulty switch and the project is done, yet there it sits while I work on plans for my arcade... so no, you're not alone haha.

I'm sure a therapist could probably provide some insight to our problem.

BadMouth:

Make a to-do list of very, very specific small things.
If something on the list can be broken down into smaller steps, it should be.
Take it down to the point where gathering each thing necessary to complete one task is a separate step.
Sometimes that helps.

My biggest trap is when a decision needs to be made, there are just too many possibilities, and I want to make the optimum one.
If I put it off, the answer eventually just comes to me.  But I think I've grown to do this too often and as a result end up waiting for the answer to magically appear instead of working on a solution.  Sometimes you just have to pick one option and run with it.
Right now, I'm not making any progress on my driving cabs because I have the parts to do the controls up to four different ways and can't commit to any of them because I'm afraid there might be a better way out there that I haven't thought up yet.   ::)

I also have this thing where once I know something works, I lose interest.  I like the challenge of figuring it out and making it work, not the menial task of finishing it.  :-\

What has helped me recently is dropping the number of projects.  I've sold/thrown away a lot of stuff that was squirrelled away for "someday" projects.  Without all those in my head overwhelming me with things to think about, I've been making more progress on my main two projects (linked in my sig).
 
I'm shooting for having the stand up cab done by the end of the year, which is a year later than I'd planned.
I'd like to have the driving cabs done by spring.  We'll see.

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