Workshop motivation.

[Bryan Parris Parris Guitars]

when I worked that way, I was off work on Fridays, so that and at least half of saturday were my shop days. I made it fun, Called “fix-it Fridays.” I don’t have the experience of building but have always been a repairman. I had to learn to only take stuff In I wanted. Said no to a lot of things back then.

[Andrew Framsted]

I’ve had an office day job and do guitar repairs evenings for 15 years now. I’ve gone through a few stages of life being a recent college grad with an entry level job, doing repairs for extra beer money. Getting better at loothing and charging a fair market rate. I saved up enough to buy a house in a big city. Built my workshop in my backyard to have a dedicated space for work. Then got married and had kids, to the point where I need both incomes (day job and loothing) to make ends meet. I think I can retire the day job when the kids are out of college and just looth for the rest of my days.

I’ve had to become pretty efficient with my workshop time as I only have when my wife and kids are asleep. I typically have from 10pm-2am that I work on guitars. For me, the motivation is self evident. I get through my day so I can retreat to my workshop and tinker/problem solve/troubleshoot/make things work again. It’s a means to an end. It’s taken some calibration to find a balance for everything, but for now, that’s what’s working.

[Michael Minton]

One thing that always keeps me going is music I like. I keep repeating the John Hyatt catalog mostly nowdays.

More recently, the Loothalong is helping

[Rick Liftig luthier wannabe… slowly gettinthere]

Before my dental practice got going, I was an avid woodworker. As I got busier (and as my family responsibilities increased), by the end of the day, it was getting very dangerous to be near power tools or sharp edges. My day off (Friday’s) became my shop day, but over time, Friday’s became the day to take care of all sorts of household chores, etc. so you have to set priorities. It was absolutely imperative they I put in all of my energies at work because of my responsibilities to my patients, my staff, and the need to keep at the 100% over a nine to ten hour day. That was the choice I made, and I am happy that I did.

Now in retirement, I am in my glory. I go down to the shop by about seven and work for 2-3 or more hours when I am at my best. I have a modest budget for tools and a small space – this is probably the best of both worlds because it keeps your acquisition urges under control!

[Fred]

I’m in a similar boat. I also have some heath concerns that can sometimes limit me after a full day of work where just getting out to the shop seems like too much. My approach is to try and make progress every day, no matter how small a step it ends up being as long as it’s forward momentum. I save the bigger tasks for days off and weekends when I have the time and energy. And I count forward momentum as just about anything related to the goal. Things as simple as researching a topic, going through the archives of the Loothgroup, getting to the hardware store to buy the right washers I need, working on CAD projects, or sweeping up all count as progress for me. It doesn’t have to be dimensioning material, gluing up, or shaping a neck. Progress and movement forward is my only measure of success. My wife and I call it slow living, I don’t know if the term really makes sense here, but at the end of the day before bed, if there was progress I’m happy. And some days there just isn’t progress, life gets in the way. That’s fine too, I just try and make some progress the next day.

For me this approach is motivating as the progress starts to add up and things start to come together eventually.

[Kalimar Maia]

I’m 50, with a full time job and a child in elementary school so I appreciate all these comments too. For me, I almost gave up after the first year. I eventually realized that my problem was being in a hurry to get somewhere. Constantly frustrated. I went back to the shop earlier this year thinking “long game”. For me this is a hobby and until I’m retired I’m mostly just doing what I can.That means and nce a week for a few hours. I cherish it because it’s me time and have nearly 100% control over it. So while I have some goals to achieve before retirement, I just see my time in the shop as learning for now. I came with zero woodworking experience so there’s lots for me to learn.

[Stevie-Ray]

Do your luthiery in small steps. Know that the repair or build will take longer then if you could commit 100% of you work time to it.