What drives people to keep doing more & more projects?
 

not just car projects, but house projects, even other sorts of things too

(yeh, this is a related thread, at least I think so)

Beats hanging around on an Internet car forum all the time. ;)

Projects help me make it through the long, cold Michigan winters...

Jim, that is the thread I haven't started yet, titled "What drives people to keep hanging around on Internet car forums all the time looking at more & more projects?"

Boy, I wish I could answer that. I think it may be a bit of, "Why should I pay someone else to do that job when I can do it myself." I know that's why my house remodel took 2 years, and why I decided to be the general on the remodel of my mom's house, and why my 911 has been sitting for a year waiting for valve guides.
I can tell you, the reason to STOP taking on projects is age. I simply cannot work 14-16 hours a day now.

What drives people to keep doing more & more projects?
 

Post it up! I can add my sob story the the thread. :)

Re: OP.... A need for creativity ...esp those in a non creative profession. Also, a zest for life, learning, adventure and fulfillment .. A lot of those in science and medicine yearn for a creative outlet...

Some people hire others to do it for them so they can hang out at car fourms:D:p

To challenge myself. To be able to sit back and say 'I built that'.

Damn car keeps breaking, leaves me with no choice...


Oh that and I slipped down that damned slippery slope a few years ago at an autocross, haven't stopped sliding yet! :D

D) All of the above.
.
After 34 yrs. as a contractor, I like to just tinker and fix things...especially for others.
Sometimes I'm the plumber with the leaky faucet.
.
Also, I think some folks have a difficult time being with themselves...alone and quiet.
So they go outside of themselves for activity to offset that difficulty.
Not me, I retired in '08 (finally!) and I like doing nothing...my experience of myself is entertainment...I'm a comfort-seeker. SmileWavy

I watched my dad (where I inherited my case of Crohns) give up all his hobbies/activities.....he died young (58). The lesson I took was "use it or loose it'.
I'm now 68 and still moving as much as possible......tho slowly & painfully.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Mental illness?

ps: I gots it too :)

A.d.d.

I've got to be doing something productive or I feel as though I have wasted the day. I have my inside/outside, good/bad weather and of course Porsche projects categorized so I can flip into any of them on demand and not skip a beat.

Everything I own is old and falling apart.

It's a hobby!

One friend asked me why I drive two cars from the mid 1980s. He knows I could afford new or newer cars. I told him I don't want an disposable appliance car with a computer driving my car for me. ABS would be nice in some situations and traction control, tire pressure monitors, stibility control, heated seats and automatic climate control are great. My wife's car has it all. It is a boring appliance car that is faster than my 911. Besides replacing the tires and the battery in her car has not needed anything.

I have had the fun of replacing all the suspension on my 911. I have rebuilt and upgraded the air conditioning. Right now I am in the middle of an engine rebuild.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1386607983.jpg

My new ARP studs are purdy.

Cocaine

Doesn't explain my project problem, Don. I used to spend 8 months a year alone in the wilderness, watching animals. More or less lost the ability to speak.

I do have a bad case of what I call Tim Hancock's disease - I think he was the one who posted about it. I can't just lie around in a hammock and do nothing. OTOH, I can sit and watch animals or plot what part of the car or house I'll tear apart next, so it might look like I'm not doing much until I jump up and grab a crowbar...

I build stuff. It's what I do. It's what I have done ever since I can remember. When I can't be creative anymore is when I'll be dead.

I always seem to have a project going. Whether it is the unfinished ceiling in the bathroom that I mess around with, or the baseboards that I just installed but have to still caulk...I just kind of stretch things out. Once a project is "done" or the house is "finished" being remodeled I always have an itch or a feeling like I need to be doing something. I just finished Grad School too, so in the midst of all of the house renovation chaos, I was writing long papers and doing school work. Maybe I need distractions, or maybe I just like the feeling of having a lot on my plate. I have always worked better, longer, and harder when I am under pressure or a deadline, so I think part of it is that I sort of bury myself in projects in order to reduce my procrastination.

I don't know how to explain it any differently. I just like to have a lot going on, and when the projects get done I tend to start plotting the next thing I am going to tear apart.