by by Tom Pollak
From personal experience working on my MGA 1600 since 1971, I have learned something that I often give as advice to anyone doing a project that they really want to complete. This is what I tell them:
Every day, if you are serious about completing the project, you have to work on it for at least five-minutes—every day! You can clean or repair some part, tidy up the workbench, sort tools, flip through the catalog or shop manual, walk around the project, make notes, take pictures or plan for the next thing you are going to work on—but you have to do this every day. Some days you will work for longer than that, but every day—five minutes!
Letting the project lie idle causes a loss of mental momentum, this is the enemy of completion!
A related suggestion is to end a work session with place to start work for next work session. This may mean not finishing up something that is going along well, just to have something to look forward to the next day. Counter-intuitive but makes sense when you think about it!
There is a lot of enjoyment in seeing the project getting closer to the day when it is, “Done!” MM
'The Five Minute Rule' has 1 comment
November 4, 2022 @ 3:40 pm russell woods
very sound advice. much like the advice i give to people who are about to start a small remodel job on their homes. i built and added on to my own home over the years. every nail every board and every shingle. so when a friend tells me that they are going to remodel a room , i tell them that they should do something to it every day. no matter how small, just some little thing towards the end goal every day. now i know why it took me eleven years to rebuild my TR6. i didnt apply the 5 minute rule.