I had been feeling a little down recently over this project; Everything was broken and everything was costing me money. But I love being in my garage and I rather like the bike, so I couldn't bring myself to simply walk away from it.It dawned on me that the bottom line was simply a TIME and MONEY problem. I was investing a lot of time in fixing things, and investing a lot of money in procuring things that I couldn't fix. And I felt that I could barely afford either. I was fairly happy to spend my spare moments fixing and repairing things, but I was beating myself up over the increasing costs and this was getting me down.
The other day, while resting against my bench and feeling a little weighed down by all the problems still to be overcome in this project, I started to wonder what would happen if I could let go of some of the constraints that I seem to have subconsciously imposed upon myself. As I thought about it, there appeared to be a number of them;
- I must finish any project that I start. Anything else will be a failure on my part
- I must get this scooter ready to ride to France next summer
- I am obliged to 'restore' this scooter back to its original design and former glory
- I must not spend more money on the project than I can expect to get back should I sell the bike
In the grand scheme of things this is not a terribly difficult project, and there is no reason why I couldn't get it finished in order to ride to France next summer - this is quite a motivating vision for me. However to achieve this, I suddenly realised that perhaps I have to stop (within reason) worrying about the cost - If I need bits, and someone has them for sale, perhaps I should stop fannying around and just buy them and press on with getting the job done.
It had an amazing effect on me; with this sudden clarity I really felt a weight come off my shoulders.
And I thought on. There is no way this scooter will ever be considered as "restored" to its original design, but there is no reason why it cant be 'good enough' as a resurrection from a barn-find grave.
And so with this new view on the project and being much more conscious of my self-imposed constraints, I feel once again motivated. I WILL finish this project and it WILL be 'good enough' to ride to France next summer :-)
