The easiest part of a home-improvement remodeling project is the beginning. The ideas are fresh in your mind, the paint cans have yet to be opened, and you’ve got enough motivation to move mountains. You know, at least until lunch time hits, and you realize that you’ve ruined a favorite pair of house-jeans with lime green splotches of paint, and what you thought was a one-day job will now turn into three…or more. After leaving the remodeling sit for a stretch, how do you pick up those home-improvement projects again with enough motivation to finish?
Home Improvement In Baby Steps
My favorite advice is to tell homeowners to underachieve their way to success. It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but setting small, ridiculously easy goals that you can know you can accomplish every day, can help build up momentum. Take the painting project for example.
Let’s say you’re trying to finish painting the main level of your home. You’ve got the bathroom done but still need to finish off half the living room and most of the kitchen. A small goal you could accomplish every day would be to paint half a wall. In the time it takes most people to commute to work (twenty to thirty minutes), you could easily cross that daily task off your list and feel good about making progress.
Home Improvement The Old Fashioned Way
There are, admittedly, some projects that can’t be broken down into such small pieces, or that need to be taken care of in one day, or a whole weekend. These projects are perfect for a more old-fashioned approach.
Ever see a movie where there’s a barn-raising? A pioneering farmer needs to build a new barn, and so he or she invites their friends and neighbors to come over and help pitch in to get the job done. To sweeten the deal there’s a whole lot of food, and a lot of fun after the project is done.
Maybe you’ve got a few friends or neighbors who are handy with a hammer. Pitch them the idea of helping you out for a few hours, in exchange for a big BBQ, pizza and beer, or sushi and sake – whatever your taste.
Home Improvement With A Modern Twist
Sometimes a remodeling project is just too big to coordinate or handle by your self. For those, there’s a modern approach that’s taking the world by storm: auctioning construction projects. As online auctions become more and more popular, those in the home-improvement and construction industry are taking advantage of websites geared directly towards them. With a few clicks you can post your project and sit back while licensed professionals bid on them.
Home-improvement remodeling projects don’t have to sit around forever, nagging in the back of your mind. By thinking outside the box a little, you can drum up the motivation necessary in order to complete them.
