Do you have enough done to

Do you have enough done to get trains running? If you do, just run trains. That usually reinvigorates me...or pick a different nit in the hobby. For example, do a little railfanning. Or, if there's a club nearby, head over to see their progress and just talk about the hobby face to face with a different group of people. Even if you don't join. 

I feel like often I get bogged down when I think about what I "NEED" to do on my projects. When the fact is, I don't NEED to do anything. 

I get that...

The things that get me over the "blahs" are numerous...

TMTV will get me invigorated...

What's Neat This Week...

New issue of a magazine, be it MRH, or MR... (still waiting for my first issue of RMC)

That other magazine's video web site (though, I haven't been able to access it in over a week... three e-mails sent... three e-mails ignored)

Then there's my favorite... a trip to the local hobby shop, OR, some eBay browsing.

I haven't been to the Balboa Park (La Mesa) museum in a while, but that gets me over the blahs as well... talking trains helps.

Browsing this forum is cool for getting over the blahs as well.

My two methods

I certainly get in one of those "meh" moods from time to time. The first thing you can do is nothing, it's a hobby. Not like you got a boss breathing down your neck, or anything.

But if I feel like I should be accomplishing something, I often head down to the basement, beer in hand, and just walk around... Admire my handywork, maybe fire up a lokie and run some cars around and just enjoy the layout. Putting the railway in the context of something to play with, instead of something that has to be finished usually tricks my mind into thinking something along the lines of "This is fun, but wouldn't it be more fun if I just added this, or finished off that"

If that doesn't work, I sometimes just force myself to start a project. Usually I find that once going I get inspired, even if I didn't have any desire, whatsoever, to work on the layout initially. The project starts to have a life of it's own and I get sucked into it.

If all else fails, just find the brothers and sisters of that beer I mentioned earlier and just not worry about it.

My personal fix

Looking at the layout just gives ya a "why am I down here feeling, or I really don't feel like doing any of this stuff." And the list of stuff is 2 pages long so why can't I just pick something and work on it !!!!!!!!!!!!

I like working with wood, doing old or new wood freight car kits has been a secret I wanna do this, for about 45 years. Which has been how long it's been since my last one. I gave in and have one almost finished. Doesn't fit the time period and to anybody who knows anything about history will realize that it is very much out of place. But I am very much looking forward to watching that car do some laps and going past my finished structures.

So the point is what have you always wanted to do in the hobby that you haven't because it doesn't make sense to do it. DO THAT THING

Jack

@Warflight...Me too

I can still get to MRVP OK, but can’t download the digital edition of the January MR. I usually get this via Zinio, but it’s not there to download yet. I checked my subscription and it says I’m good until December 2019, but also says I owe $60, which I don’t. I have sent a couple of emails to Customer service without any reply. In the past I’ve found them to be very good, so this is a surprise to me. I did see somewhere that they have/are moving some parts of their operations to a new company, so that may have something to do with it. I’m in Australia so don’t really feel like going the telephone route, but may have to if I don’t get a response. Unlike many on this forum, I’m usually very supportive of MR, but have to say I’m disappointed with this episode.

On & Off

One way to help avoid the "blahs" feeling is to focus the work into definite periods. For example, up here in Minnesota I don't want to be stuck in a basement during the summer when it's warm outside and the sun is shining. So typically I don't work on the railroad at all! I will run trains just to kick back in the evening and have fun, but as far as work progress on the layout goes, there is none!

As a result when winter rolls around, my eagerness to get back to work on the layout is high, and usually runs almost all winter long. I find this concentrated work cycle actually helps me get more done than spreading it over the whole year, because when I'm excited to work on the layout, things seem to get done much faster. 

Getting started and then stopping again

I have the same problem. I hadn't been feeling that well, so I just couldn't get myself motivated to do anything. Then a week or so ago, I forced myself to build and decal a box car because I wanted to have it for the Springfield show in Jan. Once I got started I couldn't stop. It turned out okay, but now that it's done I feel like I'm back to square one not wanting to start anything else. I was hoping for a little longer spurt of motivation.

Jim

Goal

Decide something you WANT to do, it can be long range, then figure out how to do that thing.

It can be build a certain scene, lay track in a yard, fix and engine, weather 10 cars, host an operating session, anything.  It can even be something abstract, like research a particular town or industry, leaning a new technique, or as basic as vacuum the whole layout and clean the track.

Just create a goal, think about how to do it an you will start working toward it.  I find writing down a list of things I want to do, then checking them off as I finish them.  Every check off is a "win".  And they don't have to be big things, it can be a single switch or break down adding feeders into 7 tracks or whatever and check off when you get a track done.

"Wondering how fellow

   At those times when I don't have any interest in the hobby I chill and do what does interest me. Lately I've been trying to spend an hour per day on the layout which is not long enough to make it feel like work but gives me steady progress. As the winter rains increase I'll probably spend more time but that's to be seen :> )...DaveB

And now for something completely different

Go for a bicycle ride; play the guitar (been a while ..); fix that broken _______; or anything other than work in the layout. Pretty soon I’m sitting next to the old magazines and looking at the 1946 edition of MR, NG&SLG, or reading Frank Ellison, Tony Koester, or Kozo Hiraoka’s books on building live steam models. 

A fun thing to do is get all the unopened models organized. Not only is it embarrassing to find out how many you have but that sometimes there are two, three, or more of the same thing. Why do I do that? Something will urge you to look inside a box and you will likely fall down the rabbit hole. (One will make you small ...

After four years of signals...

I needed to take regular breaks from the mundane side of the installation.  Constant wiring was a grind towards the end so I just went and did something else.

For me it was installing some ESU sound decoders into my Locomotives.  The challenge on some of them was difficult but made it something different even though it was more wiring.

Plus testing them out, programming some momentum, and tweaking the CV’s for switching provided a welcome break.

Just so long as you do something towards the ultimate goal of completion, is being productive...

Jas...

" sometimes there are two,

or at worse you will find things you'll never use  and can sell them on ebay for cash to buy some new "interesting" trains , and the seasons turn :> )....DaveB

Take a break "eh?".  Then

Take a break "eh?".  Then come back fresh.  /solved

Is there a part of the layout

Is there a part of the layout that didn't turn out the way you like? I have had that stall me for a while. You may not even realize you don't like it. It may be the track layout, a scenic element, structure position not "right". Did your trains run right the last time you ran them? 

Like they said earlier, just walk around the layout and check out the scenes. Something will eventually "click" and you will see the problem and fix it, then you will be on your way again.

Take a Break

There is nothing wrong with taking a break.  In fact, a short break can actually help prevent total burnout and leaving the hobby.

Joe

I'm with Rick.

I thought of my own methods, then read Rick's.  Right on target.

1. Run some trains.  Gets the blood flowing.
2. Start doing something, anything, no matter how small.  It will balloon.  Nike had it right, Just Do It!

A couple of other ideas.  By accident I took a photo of an area of my layout two years in a row.  I was AMAZED to see how much I accomplished in one year.  In fact, I had to look back and figure out how I did that, just to be sure I had the right photos.  Now I take that shot every year in January.  It's great to see the layout grow.

Another thing that works for me (but not for everyone, Paul!) is to do a little of this, then a little of that, sort of like the TOMA method.  I have one area nearly finished, benchwork through scenery.  When I get the blahs, I can run trains around that area and switch cars and it gets me energized again.  

Succeed at something

Seriously -nothing beats the blahs like getting something accomplished. 

You just have to sit down and push through that first thing. 

Until last night I was up against the wall, a bit, with some DCC stuff I am testing. I bit the bullet as such and went out to buy a part that, strictly speaking, I didn't have to, but which I thought would prove to be terrific if it succceeded 

And it did. After a little configuration,  I got something working in a configuration that might be a first, ever. No real reason it shouldn't have, but it is still kind of exciting to prove it works.

So I'll be getting back out there.

Inspiration

One day I was walking through my train room, drinking an adult beverage.  I was looking at my backdrop which needed clouds, and which I was scared to ruin.  Possibly the beverage helped, but I thought, "Oh what the heck, how bad could it be," and I grabbed my airbrush and some white and gray paint.  About 20 minutes later I had clouds.  Amazingly, I get more compliments on those clouds!  So it paid off, just jumping right in.

stay tuned for . . .

Stay tuned for my February column The Limited Modeler. It will be all about getting motivated!

Jim Six

Looking forward to it

Can't  wait to read it, Jim.

Post to MRH forums and find you’re not the only one

One approach for getting over the blahs may be to post about the blahs on the MRH forum and get encouragement from other’s who have had the blahs.  Hopefully that approach is working for you roadglide

If it doesn’t, my 2 cents... either:

a) Do something completely different.  A different hobby, with different frustrations.  For me that’s R/C airplanes.

b) Get bored.  The power of boredom is amazing.  Get off the MRH forum, turn off your computer and phone, shut off the tv.  Sit there and let your mind wander.  Even better, go for a walk (without listening to music or reading your phone in the process) and let your mind wander.  Something about the repetative walking motion, slowly changing scenery as you walk around the neighborhood or whereever, and the lack of anything immediate for your mind to focus on seems to lead to inspiration.  For me, takes at least 15 minutes, by half an hour into a walk I’m usually eager to get back and dig into whatever I ended up thinking about.

Start a home project...

You know that long list of stuff you need to do around the house?  

Start one of those projects. Or just seriously consider it for a moment. 

That'll get you running back to the train room. 

Randy  

My take

Get other people involved. I was motivated during the timeframe between tabletop and track and scenery, by people seeing the layout and that motivated me to get it more 'presentable." Run op sessions if you can, ask for suggestions for the things that haven't been done yet. You might get some good info on concepts or techniques you'd never considered before.

Just one guy doing a, "hey, what's new on the layout?" check every now and then can get you roiling. It's how I got my scenery going as I wasn't sure how I would handle it, but I was so motivated, I just figured out what I wanted to do and went with it. Below is a 3-year difference between photos, to the day:

Count the Day Lost

Neil Erickson has some great advice.  If the hobby loses its sheen or lustre for you, do something else that seems more nagging, insistent, fun, or advisable instead.  I find, and have taught in my stress management lectures, that getting out for a walk/run/cycle/hike or even a stand-up paddle is a great way to reset.  Flushing out the system with oxygen, carrying a small camera or camera/phone and looking for pretty things to image as you move....this really helps to put a lot into perspective.  Then, there's that gable end plate up there that has the paint peeling.  Sooner or later....

There is a poem, an aphorism really:

Count the day lost whose low descending sun

views from thy hand no worthy action done.

Many of us who find ourselves "stuck" are really conflicted.  We have things we'd like to do, and things we know we should do.  Sometimes the being stuck is an indication we don't really have what it takes to complete our intended task, or even to start on it.  It could be motivation, sure, but it could also be a tool or proper materials.  We stall, day after day. It could even be skill development, experience, or knowing quite how to tackle it (This is what trips me up mostly). My advice is to tackle, in a determined way, one of your must-do items and do it well.  Stand back, and tell yourself that maybe an hour in the train room is finally earned.