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Finishing your airplane - The Commitment

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Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
6,143
Location
Wisconsin
I just found out a friend and fellow builder died, old age. I'm really gonna miss him, I kick myself for not reaching out to him these last few months. What a fool I was. I blame myself for being busy but that's not the truth, it just wasn't a priority. It should have been, he was an awesome guy who spent his life as a mechanic all the way back in to the 1930's. He left behind unfinished airplanes. I started thinking of this in the last hour or so, in my head I can name about 8 or of 10 builders I know that have stopped building. Myself and 1 other guy are still plugging away.......but very very slowly. Why is that I wonder?


None of the guys have money issues, money is seldom the issue with building, it's usually just an excuse. I'm 45, the other 9 people are over the age of 65, most over 70 in fact. I didn't visit my buddy because it wasn't a priority, and now I regret that. I wonder how many people will regret not finishing an airplane. It could be me? I don't know. I do know that there's unfinished airplanes all over the country sitting in garages and hangars. I wonder how many people will regret not setting the priorities to finish them. I do know for a fact my friend who died regretted not finishing his airplanes.


I realize I'm writing this post right now with a great deal of emotion and regret so bare in mind my post is rather biased and single sided.


I talk a big game but my Cassutt is sitting right now. That is a fact. If I'm really honest with myself I can't come up with a single dam reason why I'm not working on it right now other than a lack of priorities. The only reality here is that I'm getting older by the second, and I'm surrounded by the things in life that pull me constantly. Sometimes everything I'm surrounded by seems like a pain in the azz to do, including my Cassutt. Maybe i'm overworked? Are others overworked? I don't know.


I'm thinking as I write this, and I'm coming to the conclusion life needs a balance. We think we have balance but do we actually have balance? I use to be very balanced, I'm starting to think I've lost touch with my true balance in life.


The title of this thread is "finishing your airplane" so I think in order to finish we need to first draw a line in the sand and set some life boundaries. If not, I fear the end result will not be what we want. And the more I think about this the more I realize I haven't set enough life boundaries. Life boundaries are where freedom is found. None of this that I'm writing might not make sense to others, but it certainly does to me. It makes sense right now.


If building is truly a priority a person needs to map out a plan to finish it, I have not done this. This is a real problem that needs to be corrected. I need to come up with a plan of attack that gives me an hour a day minimum. For me, in my life and with my situation, I can find the extra hour in the morning before anyone in my home gets up and I can find another hour right before I go to bed, maybe not every single day but doing this 3 times a week can easily get me 6-8 hours of build time minimum. Without a priority and a plan all I'm left with are good intentions. Good intentions don't build airplanes.

Building is suppose to be enjoyable, if not, why do it right? Wouldn't it be a nice way to start your day doing something you really love before the everyday stress of life starts in? I think so, for me at least. With the time set all I need is to commit. period. I committed when getting married, I committed when having our 3 kids, I committed when starting my business, I have failed to really commit to my airplane project. Which is ridiculous, an airplane take a long time to build in terms of hours. Committing to an actual plan of commitment , which includes an actual plan to achieve it, is probably more important than any other portion of the airplane questions that get asked here on the forum. Very few do this, including myself. Instead, what we do is live life as normal and just "try to fit it in". This is not a successful plan, it's just good intentions. Trying to fit a commitment such as building an airplane in your life with a plan is kinda ridiculous if you think about it. It's a big deal to build a airplane, it needs committment.

So here is my commitment.

Because I have a business I have a schedule I keep in a 3 ring binder (sorry, no phone apps for me, lol). My schedule is everything to me. Every week on Sunday I write out my entire week so I can keep on track and get everything done. I have never once planned or wrote down which days and times I was gonna work on the Cassutt. That all ends today. In fact, I'm changing my schedule so it has time slots for building. I'm making it a priority, no different than scheduling a job or meeting with a customer. We all have the same amount of hours in a day, it's what you do with that time that matters. So today is Sunday, my scheduling day, and I'm writing in which days this week I'm allowing time to work on it.

I have monthly financial goals in my business, as any business owner knows you're pretty destined to mediocrity if you don't set financial goals, you leave it up to chance. Financial goals are a priority. So beyond just scheduling I also need monthly or weekly goals for the Cassutt. Similar to financial goals with a business or life I need to actually prioritize my numbers on the Cassutt, which is time!. How much time am I allowing to my goal?

It's these two things that build airplanes in a timely manor. My commitment is now completly different than it was when I started my Cassutt. It's a priority now, I'm scheduling for it and I have a monthly and weekly goal how much time I am scheduling.

If anyone has anything to add please do. I don't want to just work on my Cassutt, I want to see progress and finish it. I want to fly it. And I want to fly it in under 24 months. Again, lots of emotion in my head right now after hearing about my friend. I don't want to end up like all these guys who die having never finished the airplane. I enjoy the process but that's not good enough for me, I want to enjoy it after it's built as well.

Anyone else here willing to commit to making a weekly schedule?
 
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