What to do with discouragement?

[Badger]

  The level of workmanship and performance has reached a level that doesn't leave a lot for improvement when keeping things relative. When a lot of us started 20 or 30 years ago we had a lot of room to improve, a lot of styles that had not yet been so refined etc. A lot of these challenges are what kept us motivated. I have lost a lot of the passion I once had just because I don't feel I am making much progress. Every now and then I will try something new and figure out its not really knew after all. The motivation may not be quite the same as it once was.

[upstatenybowyer]

Thanks Badge. 

[Badger]

    That may have sounded kind of negative but it wasn't meant to come off that way. Very small improvements today are appreciated at least as much as very large improvements 30 years ago. The mine may have been worked past commercial viability but there are still plenty of nuggets left for us with gold fever!

[upstatenybowyer]

Nice. I wasn't seeing your thoughts as negative at all. In fact, it made me look forward to another 20 years of making bows!

[ajooter]

I guess I didn't finish my post...but I like to mix it up to keep things interesting.  If one of them bows is discouraging you just move into another....a lot of times coming back to one u started with fresh eyes can help too.

[mikekeswick]

Once I feel I've got as good as I can get at anything the drive to keep doing it ebbs away from me. For me the fun is doing something new, the unknown being the interesting part. Doing the same thing over and again teaches you less and less - that's when things get stale for me. A lot of my drive for making wooden bows has gone. I've learnt a lot along the way and the journey was fantastic but now my focus is on hornbows and what I can get out of them. When I get sick of bows full stop I go climbing. Climbing never gets boring for me as there is always another cliff, another route, another move, more training, different techniques etc....a World of 'unknowns'

[stuckinthemud]

I'm with Mike, I thrive on challenge but consequently my failure rate is really high (like 1 in 3). I think its about balance - too much of any one thing will always get boring, but, if a project does get me down, I put it in the rafters and go do something else instead - when I am in the right frame of mind I'll come back and have another go

[osage outlaw]

I don't really get discouraged with making bows.  I find it to be relaxing and relieves stress.  Yesterday my phone self destructed in my pocket on the drive to work.  This morning my car battery died when I made a stop on my way to work.  I'm counting down the hours until I put a piece of osage in a vise tomorrow and pick up a rasp.

Sometimes I'm not able to focus because I'm tired or something else is going on.  When I get like that I don't do any tillering or other detailed work because I'm likely to make a mistake.  Instead I start removing the bark and sapwood off of staves.  My brain can shut down for a while and go into auto-pilot.  It doesn't take much concentration to rip sapwood.  When I worked night shift I ripped a lot of sapwood. 

It doesn't hurt to switch things up every now and then.  I'll take a break from bow making and work on knives or something else for a few weeks.  I feel that recharges my bow making batteries so to speak.  I'm ready to get back to it and finish a few bows. 

[Badger]

I don't really get discouraged with making bows.  I find it to be relaxing and relieves stress.  Yesterday my phone self destructed in my pocket on the drive to work.  This morning my car battery died when I made a stop on my way to work.  I'm counting down the hours until I put a piece of osage in a vise tomorrow and pick up a rasp.

Sometimes I'm not able to focus because I'm tired or something else is going on.  When I get like that I don't do any tillering or other detailed work because I'm likely to make a mistake.  Instead I start removing the bark and sapwood off of staves.  My brain can shut down for a while and go into auto-pilot.  It doesn't take much concentration to rip sapwood.  When I worked night shift I ripped a lot of sapwood. 

It doesn't hurt to switch things up every now and then.  I'll take a break from bow making and work on knives or something else for a few weeks.  I feel that recharges my bow making batteries so to speak.  I'm ready to get back to it and finish a few bows.

  I love roughing out staves, very relaxing.

[upstatenybowyer]

These are great responses. I just thought of another thing that refocuses/re-energizes me... Cleaning and reorganizing my work area. Professional chefs have this thing called "Mise en place." It's a philosophy where everything is in it's place prior to cooking. Easily translated to bow making.

[BowEd]

To quote with carpentry language here there's a great value in being a good frame up man.Bringing them all inside to dry out well.Every stave to me is still kinda like christmas yet.Ya just never always know what's underneath sometimes.

[PEARL DRUMS]

When you start feeling guilty for not building bows, you know you have a problem .  That's where I have sat for months now. NO desire to even think about working on a bow. I have my reasons, good or bad depending on who you talk to.

I have shifted my interests to other things for a while. Rabbit hunting with dogs and guns and fixing my horribly deteriorated shot with a metal riser and carbon limbs. I still have a passion for wood bows and always will.  When it starts feeling like work or I have to force myself to go to the shop, its time to step away, so I did.

[Jim Davis]

Perspective changes. If it doesn't we are stupid. Lots of good thoughts above.

It will seem negative, but as Solomon said, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." Lots of us here have a certain view of life that recognizes things that  are not empty, and sometimes, the empty things are useful to take our mind of the heavy things. But we need to keep seeing the big picture and live accordingly.

[bjrogg]

So far it's fresh and relaxing for me. I'm still learning so much. I love to start and end my day with a rasp in my hands. It helps me get ready for the work day and unwind before I go home. Like Osage said it's just relaxing to me, and if my brain isn't in high gear I don't do the fussy stuff. I always have some red osier shoots to work on, or stone to knap. I string my bow and shoot a few arrows. If it's nice out I go for a walk and collect some arrow shoots, bow staves or pine pitch. I play around with some hides. Lately I've been playing around with some writing. If it gets to where it's work, then I'm sure I'd put it down for awhile till it was fun and relaxing again. In all honesty it would not be the first hobby I put away for a time, but so far it's still fresh for me. I still have goals to reach and people I want to make bows for.
Bjrogg

[rps3]

I'm with asharrow and osage outlaw. If even a hint of discouragement  starts creeping in I just focus on what is really important.

The wife just called and said her battery is dead too.