You may recall that in '05 I blew up two engines in two races; talk about a downer. After the July blowed-up engine I said "eff it!" and parked the car. I actually got PLEASURE watching it collect dust...

But, come mid-September, I got to thinking about how much fun I had at the ARRC in '04. The opportunity to do that again was the motivation I needed to creak open the wallet to get Kessler to build me an engine, and we worked in prep. The rest, as they say, is history.

So here's what you do:

- Make a list of EVERYTHING you want to do. Even the little, easy stuff. ESPECIALLY the little, easy stuff. WRITE IT DOWN.
- Hang the list on the wall in the garage, where you can easily see it.
- Take the list and prioritize it: "gotta" do before getting on the track (e.g., safety); "should" do before getting on the track (e.g., dependability); "want" to do before getting on the track (e.g., performance).
- Pick something - anything - dirt simple easy and quick from the list, something that takes no effort and is quickly done. Then manually scratch it off the list with a bold red pen.
- Pick one more item, another easy one. Red-scratch it off.
- Watch that list, with its evident reminder of things accomplished, start to slowly dwindle. As the red gets bigger, the motivation grows, 'cause now you KNOW you're being productive.

Just get your butt off the sofa and make it happen. All it takes is a spark...