The Subject of "Burn Out"

[hot ford coupe]

Let’s pose a simple hypothetical situation. There you sit at your modeling bench with your current project in front of you. You start to push a few parts around the table and begin to plan out what you feel you want to do. Then you get this uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. You have a bunch of small details planned yet you can’t seem to get started. You don’t really feel like getting into a whole bunch of detail right now and at the same time you feel that if you don’t put that detail in, you’re letting yourself and possibly others down. You start to fear that people will criticize your work on the site and wonder what happened to you. That model in front of you now becomes less and less fun every time you go to the bench. It feels like work, not play. It stresses you, not relaxes you. You start making excuses to yourself why you can’t do any modeling today or this week until you notice you haven’t been to the bench in a couple of weeks and the dust is piling up.
If this sounds familiar at all, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Nothing is wrong with you, you haven’t lost your skills, you haven’t lost your mind and you haven’t lost your love for the hobby. You just have a simple case of burnout. You just need a little break in some way. The good thing is the condition does not have to be permanent. It can be overcome especially if you really have a love for modeling and your chosen modeling subject. Now why should I know so much about this subject? I, myself am a recovering burn out victim so to speak. About a year ago, I literally started to hate going down into my workshop. I found myself making excuses for not building anything automotive. I figured I’d change projects and start something new to wake up the excitement but to no avail. It’s taken me a year to get back into the swing.

At this point, you may ask how if you love modeling so much does something like this happen? It’s very, very easy. You basically do it to yourself. Here’s how it can happen.

The worst thing you can do is expect too much of yourself. Know what you can do and have the confidence you need to do it, but when you hold yourself to too high a standard, you have a high potential for frustration to set in. You’ll never seem to be happy with whatever you build. You may even feel that someone on the site will notice something different about your work and call you on it. This is one thing that was happening to me. I can assure you that this kind of thing doesn’t happen on this site. If you ask for an opinion, you’ll get good constructive criticism, more possibly done as a friendly suggestion or even a “how to” question. The most important thing to remember is to build for yourself and do what you need to do to please yourself. Give yourself the permission go easy and just have fun.

In the same vein, instead of building something that will take all your skill to build like a full blown Pocher kit, take some time and build something simple right out of the box. That’s what I did with the big 48 flathead. I did some modifications but just enough to keep it interesting and fun. Everything you do doesn’t have to be a master piece but it has to be fun and not work.

One thing I found extremely troublesome was creating deadlines. Unless you build for a living, this is the one thing that can stop you cold in your tracks. It can cause you to build up such deep feelings of resentment that you’ll get to a point where you never want to go back to the bench. If it gets done today, fine. If not, fine too. You don’t need the extra pressure. You just need to relax and have fun.

The most important thing you can do is let someone here know what you’re feeling before you’re at your wits end. There’s no need for any embarrassment because we all know the situation when it comes to burn out. It happens even to the best builders. We’ve got plenty of guys here that would be more than happy to listen to you and help you out of the bog. We’re all in this hobby to enjoy ourselves, find some relaxation and spread the knowledge somewhere along the way.

Any further thoughts and comments on this subject are very welcome and encouraged.

[mouppe]

Go to any model ship forum and look up "rigging." You will see many stories about burn out!

Mouppe.

[Mario Lucchini]

Let’s pose a simple hypothetical situation. There you sit at your modeling bench with your current project in front of you. You start to push a few parts around the table and begin to plan out what you feel you want to do. Then you get this uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. You have a bunch of small details planned yet you can’t seem to get started. You don’t really feel like getting into a whole bunch of detail right now and at the same time you feel that if you don’t put that detail in, you’re letting yourself and possibly others down. You start to fear that people will criticize your work on the site and wonder what happened to you. That model in front of you now becomes less and less fun every time you go to the bench. It feels like work, not play. It stresses you, not relaxes you. You start making excuses to yourself why you can’t do any modeling today or this week until you notice you haven’t been to the bench in a couple of weeks and the dust is piling up.
If this sounds familiar at all, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Nothing is wrong with you, you haven’t lost your skills, you haven’t lost your mind and you haven’t lost your love for the hobby. You just have a simple case of burnout. You just need a little break in some way. The good thing is the condition does not have to be permanent. It can be overcome especially if you really have a love for modeling and your chosen modeling subject. Now why should I know so much about this subject? I, myself am a recovering burn out victim so to speak. About a year ago, I literally started to hate going down into my workshop. I found myself making excuses for not building anything automotive. I figured I’d change projects and start something new to wake up the excitement but to no avail. It’s taken me a year to get back into the swing.

At this point, you may ask how if you love modeling so much does something like this happen? It’s very, very easy. You basically do it to yourself. Here’s how it can happen.

The worst thing you can do is expect too much of yourself. Know what you can do and have the confidence you need to do it, but when you hold yourself to too high a standard, you have a high potential for frustration to set in. You’ll never seem to be happy with whatever you build. You may even feel that someone on the site will notice something different about your work and call you on it. This is one thing that was happening to me. I can assure you that this kind of thing doesn’t happen on this site. If you ask for an opinion, you’ll get good constructive criticism, more possibly done as a friendly suggestion or even a “how to” question. The most important thing to remember is to build for yourself and do what you need to do to please yourself. Give yourself the permission go easy and just have fun.

In the same vein, instead of building something that will take all your skill to build like a full blown Pocher kit, take some time and build something simple right out of the box. That’s what I did with the big 48 flathead. I did some modifications but just enough to keep it interesting and fun. Everything you do doesn’t have to be a master piece but it has to be fun and not work.

One thing I found extremely troublesome was creating deadlines. Unless you build for a living, this is the one thing that can stop you cold in your tracks. It can cause you to build up such deep feelings of resentment that you’ll get to a point where you never want to go back to the bench. If it gets done today, fine. If not, fine too. You don’t need the extra pressure. You just need to relax and have fun.

The most important thing you can do is let someone here know what you’re feeling before you’re at your wits end. There’s no need for any embarrassment because we all know the situation when it comes to burn out. It happens even to the best builders. We’ve got plenty of guys here that would be more than happy to listen to you and help you out of the bog. We’re all in this hobby to enjoy ourselves, find some relaxation and spread the knowledge somewhere along the way.

Any further thoughts and comments on this subject are very welcome and encouraged.

No one could have put this phenomena better on words!......

I suffer this daily....until I get moving,,,,

Mario

[xken]

My problem is burnout at work and I can't wait to get home and start modelling; it is a terrible thing when work interferes with having fun. However, one must to something to pay for the materials and supplies and ocassionaly eat.

Ken

[Tage]

One of the primary causes of angst is unmet expectations.

It is a factor in spousal relationships, work relationships, and almost any interpersonal relationship you can think of.

Usually these are do to uncommunicated expectations.

In burnout, we have expectations of ourselves, that are often not really defined as to scope or timeline.

I start jotting things down, and putting completion dates bt them. I then set them aside and laugh at them later.

Be gentle with yourselves, life is way to short.

[Don Garrett]

Thanks guys, this thread is giving me a reason to smile.......burn out used to make me feel like the the red headed step child. I'd do something (jack of all trades master of none) and when all the ohhhhhsss and ahhhhhhs came in, I'd swell up 3 times my size and turn orange. Ah, yes...it's hard to beat basking in the spot light, cool beans for sure and self edification to the max, however, along comes another dreamer with a nanny, nanny boo boo...top this , Okay you push yourself to the point where as Jeff pointed out, it becomes competitive.......and you wind up in the burn out scenario. Time to throw your hands in the air and say "to heck with this". Is there a cure ?

Absolutely.

Take it from the burn out king (I live there) dream your dream, and work on it. If it doesn't call you back....so what? After all....who do you have to impress to blow your skirt up? If you don't complete a build.....push back and savor what you've learned. Smile, box it up and put it in the dust bin knowing that the next will offer up a whole new set of fireworks and you have gained a power pill in the process. If I ever build a model or full size car that I'm completely satisfied with......I'm done, time to hang up my hat.
Understand that if it's a hassle.......you're not working at your own chosen speed. If you work with what you have and in your time frame you are as welcome here as the guys that crank out museum quality stuff. Bear in mind they have their own devils to deal with and face the same problems, just a different level. Long winded post to say simply.....whatever makes you do the happy dance belongs here at SMC.

[Rick]

Interesting. My burnout phobia comes from haveing too many builds underway at the same time. Right now I've got about eight that are on the bench and each one is crying out "finish me, finish me".

The best fix for me is to start another build. So I ordered two bodies from MF and they will be started as soon as they arrive. I know that within a couple of months, the two new builds will be singing the "finish me" tune and in order to shut them up, I'll have to order something new again.

What, me suffering from burnout?? Nah, I'm just going broke!

[hot ford coupe]

Thanks guys for your great comments. I knew I wasn't alone in this. I'm glad I put this up because it gives me and everyone a good number of perspectives on the same problem.

Tage, I like your list technique. It's sort of a "what the heck was I thinking" philosophy.

Don, I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, if I read what I wrote, I didn't . You speak the modeling truth. It's all about sharing your joys in this great hobby of ours with those of like mind. When you share those joys, they're amplified. Another thing; if your chosen hobby is not relaxing, then why do it? That's supposed to be what a hobby is for.

Rick, you and I seem to work in a similar way. Believe it or not, I just finished my first complete model kit with the 48 Flathead. How many years have I been doing this?

Ken and Mario, what can I say. Even the best get burnout. I feel like I'm in really great company.

Keep those cars and letters coming in.

[Thrillbilly Rich]

Glad I am not the only one! Seems like I get tugged in all directions and the end result is I don't want to work on anything! I have three biggies I need to work on, The Riviera has to get progress done to it. Now the chop is not going to happen at the leadslead (more on that latter) Trying to get a project done for Rick that is long overdue, Getting ready to work on a "special" project with Madd and another slammers member,and last but not least lending a hand here and there on the Captain Pepi restoration. Not that I am complaining I just don't know which way to go! And sometimes the couch wins!

[Don Garrett]

I think I hear the burn out therapist knocking....hang on for a moment. I'll be right back and let you know if he shares any pearls of wisdom with me.

[Rick]

Hey Rich

Have a look in the latest Hot Rod magazine. You might want to rethink what you're doing to the Riv.