How you do anything
Every class seems to offer a moment or theme that I walk away with, and this last one came in the form of a statement.
“How you do anything is how you do everything.”
One of the students said this and it’s a self analysis ear worm. I can’t get this out of my head. Obviously, this year has been a personal stretch. I’ve stepped far outside of my usual bounds. From jacking up a house, to living in a tent, to spending an obscene (in chairmaker terms) amount of money and effort to create this new home, it’s been an opportunity to see myself make choices and act in thousands of situations. I find this phrase can mean many things, usually depending on my mood. Sometimes, I look at the extent to which I tend to go all in on my pursuits and I feel pretty good about it. Yep, I throw down, work hard, see it through. But other times, I find the phrase to be downright indicting. I’m a whirlwind, moving too fast, constantly making a mess, losing everything, taking on too much, obsessing and only pulling off results through brutish exertion.
This phrase also brings to mind other craftsmen that I know. Tim Manney makes everything practical and beautiful. If he needs a strop, it’s made with speed and elegance. His sensibility is crystal clear in his shop and his
work, he’s a great example of the best this phrase describes.
It’s not new to observe that we live in an image driven culture where curating our life online has become the norm. The real ups and downs of daily life get glossed over for quick consumption. Every time I take out the trash at the shop, I consider doing a photo shoot with the dumpster so I can convey the real glamour of being a woodworker. So much of it comes down to labor… tiring, time consuming labor. Don’t get me wrong, I love every minute of it. If I’ve learned one thing this year, it’s that my flow state is labor, I feel most natural while engaging in a task. But having that phrase knocking around in my head while I work (currently laying an oak floor) has encouraged me slow down to do good work while chiding me about my bad habits. Now that I’ve implanted this phrase in your head, I’m curious what it means to you.
By the way here is that white oak floor, I decided to seal it with raw tung oil from the Real Milk Paint company. After a bunch of considerations (I’m living here and can’t vent the house and keep it up to temp) I decided to go with the tung oil. If I find I need more protection, I can add it later during the warm months. But if my spoons are any indication, I think it should hold up fine. Plus it looks amazing and smells great.
Arent we just the sum of our actions, great and small--even the ones no one else sees. I walked to work thru the parking garage and saw a discarded face mask on the walkway. I was in a rush and walked by it, thinking “someones a pig, littering like that” and then in my self righteous indignation, realized that I was as much a pig, even though no one noticed me walk on by and leave the trash where it was. I went back and picked it up and threw it out, but dont think I exonerated myself because my first thought was that I couls get away with leaving it there since no one was witness. Then I read Pete’s “ear worm” and felt “indicted”. I suppose its the same thing when cutting a tenon too small and enlarging it with a thin planed curlycue of wood or even epoxy. No one will see, but Ill know it wasnt right. Or not quite having a nice, scraped and sanded finish on the chair bottom...how you do anything is how you do everything
The way we do everything, I believe, is guided-whether intentionally or by not, by the value we place on the task. It is a good thing to try to do the best you can on all the tasks and projects you do. But there is a limited amount of time in a day or week. And sometimes you just have to do the best you can. I also believe that most of us (me definitely) try to take on too many things. This necessarily pits us against ourselves trying to do a "good job" at all these various tasks. And maybe the take-away here is to attempt to limit the number of tasks, hobbies, work, etc., we take on.
I read an interesting post about sticking to a particular topic in life on Chris Schwarz's blog this week.
He was talking about sticking to the main theme of furniture making in his work life. Either in writing, making, or teaching he stays within the scope of furniture making. This has the natural effect of making him better at all things furniture making. This does make sense.
I have to fight the tendency to be all over the place with my interests. And in turn, the tendency to do things with mediocracy. We are all wired up differently though. Different attention spans, different aspirations for our lives. Some want to make a living through woodworking. Others just want to make a chair. Some are just fascinated with how a mortise and tenon go together, or how to make a dovetail joint go together. Just for the joy of discovery, even if only on a small scale.
The original quote about how we do things is definitely a great jumping off point for us to consider well, how and why we do things. This feels like an indictment to me too, to pare down what I try to get involved in. Put more time and effort into the things I really consider important.
Peter, I like the way you do things. Especially chair building. You are very thoughtful about the process of how you make things, especially complex tasks, breaking them down into manageable steps. And really considering how you could teach someone else to perform the tasks.
From a scatterbrained person, I really appreciate your focused approach!