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DIY Home-Project Burnout and How To Prevent It

DIY Home-Project Burnout and How To Prevent It

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Have you ever taken on a DIY home project that really excited you?  You know, the project you saw on Pintrest or Facebook that motivated you to rush out and purchase all the supplies, and filled your head with visions of how beautiful it would look?  You started working on it with enthusiasm and a lot of energy, spent a few days focusing on the end results, and then it happened…..DIY home-project burnout!  Has this ever happened to you?

DIY Project Burnout is a state of physical and mental exhaustion when the work demands constantly exceed the amount of energy that you want to give on a daily basis. Complete project burnout usually happens when overwhelm takes over, your productivity declines, and there is a lack of motivation/boredom.

That is exactly what happened to me recently with a project I started this summer.  I love chalk painting with Amy Howard Home products.  And I hate knowing that nine million tons of furniture goes to landfills each year.  So I’m an advocate of either donating or repurposing.  But what began as a fun way to repurpose our 25 year old kitchen table and chairs, soon became a daunting task that I wish was finished. 

repurposed chairs before and after

                                                                                              Chair after and Chair before

My first goal was to finish painting and reupholstering one chair a week.  We have six chairs, so that should have been an easy goal.  Until some problems popped up… along with the boredom!  This project has been on my To-Do list for weeks, and I get excited each time I can place an updated chair around our kitchen table.  I know it’s going to be beautiful when it’s finished. But I admit that I have DIY home-project burnout.

 
DIY table and chairs makeover

Stuff that gets in the way:

  • not having a step-by-step plan before you begin
  • tools that aren’t easy to operate
  • not having enough supplies to complete the project at once
  • not having the right supplies to get started
  • setting unrealistic goals for completing the project
  • life, work, family commitments

Solutions:

  • Re-focus your mindset and your energy
  • Set an intention to finish it…NOW!  Playing energetic music helps.
  • Make a step-by-step plan.  (ex. do you want to paint all 6 chairs at once, then wax all of them, then cover the seats)
  • Watch any videos you can that will help you before you start
  • Purchase all of the items you’ll need before you start so you won’t have any starts and stops
  • Make an appointment with yourself to work on your project when you know you’ll have the most energy…and keep that appointment
  • If you feel yourself getting bored or overwhelmed, take some time off to take your mind off of it.  Quiet periods aren’t negative.  Sometimes stepping back, can lead to fresh ideas and renewed motivation.

Moral to the story:

  • DIY Home Projects sound great when you start out
  • Be realistic about the time and cost involved
  • Be realistic about your skill level
  • Be honest with yourself about why you really want to do this.  For me, it’s the satisfaction of turning something old and outdated into something beautiful and useful. And doing my part to save the environment by re-designing, repurposing and re-using outdated items.