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
Thanks for commenting Jon, I find that the longer I have that phrase in mind that it shifts meaning. My hope is to find the focus and importance of each moment, which is so easily lost in the crush of everything undone. Cheers
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!
Like I said, it's a hard one to get away from. I know that there is a variety of levels of focus that I put into things. I always have an overflow of junk and junk tasks that I can't manage in the moment, perhaps that's why is feels especially good when that junk is cleared (think email inbox!) I hope you have a great holiday, great to hear from you
I love the quote Peter and it does worm its way in there. Reminds me of an Annie Dillard quote where she says in The Writing Life, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." I remember that one stopping me decades ago. I also appreciated your statement, "My flow state is labor," and your honest sharing about the grit and the grace of that. Thank you for sharing this personal side to the flow state.
Geez I think I'm a bit of both. I'm constantly annoyed by the mess that I make and seek a cleaner mess free environment, but there are also tasks I would rather not be doing so I just want to smash through them. Trying to take my time and do things a little better even if I don't want to. I find finishing with hand tools really helps. One area where I really hit the zone is sharpening though.
That's a wonderful comment, and it does set me thinking about how to find the right path between a disappointing perfectionism I just can't realize, and solid, workwoman-like, acceptable work.
But I'll give you another ear worm: "If a job is not worth doing, it is not worth doing well." I used to tickle my students to death with this. Most jobs are worth doing...but we do sometimes find ourselves having to complete jobs that, indeed, are not worth doing. When that happens, I find it helpful to ask myself whether throwing my best effort at this "job not worth doing" has other gratifications -- like hewing to my sense of professionalism -- or whether, indeed, I should save best effort, which is not, after all, in infinite supply, for other, worthier jobs, and just do the job not worth doing well enough for adequacy, service, and purpose.
It's best when we get to choose our jobs. Then they are always worth doing!
Pete, the floor looks gorgeous. I am so glad to know you are now surrounded by walls, floors, and a ceiling. Happy holidays to all!
I’m always aware that I have more resources than skill. but that isn’t an excuse to do mediocre work I have to push myself to use my intellect and help of others to get to the balance that I can live with.
I was also interested Peter in what kind of ratio your business is? How much work is actually building g furniture and how much is teaching? I realise you completely redoing a house will have greatly affected that.
because of the house, I haven't been building chairs for sale this year, just during classes. I can't wait for things to settle down so I can get back to finishing all the ones I made this year and working on new ones.
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
Thanks for commenting Jon, I find that the longer I have that phrase in mind that it shifts meaning. My hope is to find the focus and importance of each moment, which is so easily lost in the crush of everything undone. Cheers
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!
Thanks Mark,
Like I said, it's a hard one to get away from. I know that there is a variety of levels of focus that I put into things. I always have an overflow of junk and junk tasks that I can't manage in the moment, perhaps that's why is feels especially good when that junk is cleared (think email inbox!) I hope you have a great holiday, great to hear from you
I love the quote Peter and it does worm its way in there. Reminds me of an Annie Dillard quote where she says in The Writing Life, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." I remember that one stopping me decades ago. I also appreciated your statement, "My flow state is labor," and your honest sharing about the grit and the grace of that. Thank you for sharing this personal side to the flow state.
Geez I think I'm a bit of both. I'm constantly annoyed by the mess that I make and seek a cleaner mess free environment, but there are also tasks I would rather not be doing so I just want to smash through them. Trying to take my time and do things a little better even if I don't want to. I find finishing with hand tools really helps. One area where I really hit the zone is sharpening though.
That's a wonderful comment, and it does set me thinking about how to find the right path between a disappointing perfectionism I just can't realize, and solid, workwoman-like, acceptable work.
But I'll give you another ear worm: "If a job is not worth doing, it is not worth doing well." I used to tickle my students to death with this. Most jobs are worth doing...but we do sometimes find ourselves having to complete jobs that, indeed, are not worth doing. When that happens, I find it helpful to ask myself whether throwing my best effort at this "job not worth doing" has other gratifications -- like hewing to my sense of professionalism -- or whether, indeed, I should save best effort, which is not, after all, in infinite supply, for other, worthier jobs, and just do the job not worth doing well enough for adequacy, service, and purpose.
It's best when we get to choose our jobs. Then they are always worth doing!
Pete, the floor looks gorgeous. I am so glad to know you are now surrounded by walls, floors, and a ceiling. Happy holidays to all!
It's so true, you have to pick your battles. I think having perspective is vital, there's no way to apply the same effort everywhere. See you soon!
I’m always aware that I have more resources than skill. but that isn’t an excuse to do mediocre work I have to push myself to use my intellect and help of others to get to the balance that I can live with.
You said it, balance is a worthy goal, much better than grinding along
I was also interested Peter in what kind of ratio your business is? How much work is actually building g furniture and how much is teaching? I realise you completely redoing a house will have greatly affected that.
Tim,
because of the house, I haven't been building chairs for sale this year, just during classes. I can't wait for things to settle down so I can get back to finishing all the ones I made this year and working on new ones.