Practice

Some time ago, I shared with you that I had been given a great opportunity to work on a project I referred to as "Top Secret."  This Saturday I will turn the project over to the family members that I am hopeful will have this in their family for generations to come. I actually think this is their expectation too, so I'm not suggesting something here that isn't in the realm of reality.  As wonderful as that is, and yes, I will post pictures so that you know what I've been working on, but that isn't what I'm thinking about today.

I have the privilege to be acquainted with Dan Keller, the owner of RCS Millwork. I initially met Dan through Rotary, and grew to know him through Meals for the Heartland, but I really came to appreciate him when I was between careers. Dan was one of my most regular and vocal supporters. Part of this was that Dan had also gone through a career search at one point in his life, and part of it was that we share a love of woodworking - Dan as his vocation, and myself as an avocation. 

When we first met, I was just setting up the Toybox. Now, as I look back, I'd have to say that many of my woodworking skills were rudimentary. I knew what I was doing, but many things took lots of time and several "test pieces" before everything worked the way that I wanted it to. In one conversation I had with Dan, he  told me that if I wanted to be a better woodworker, I needed to practice more. Well, there was a earth shattering thought. I know that it was nothing new, in fact it's an imperative for anyone that wants to improve those things that they do.  But, for whatever reason, it came at a moment in time and found fertile ground in me. Those words and my response have caused me to work to improve basic skills and to continue to add additional skills in the last several years. I'm not about to say that I am ready for hand carved panels, or pieces with a lot of curves, but there are skills that I have added that make my woodworking much more special than it used to be. I hope to have the chance to show this off in the set of kitchen cabinets that I will be working on for my home in the near future.

In talking to others (not necessarily woodworkers) who have skills and talents that they bring to bear, and in comparing notes, we all seem to continue to discover the same thing. The more we do something, and actually the more that we screw things up, the more we learn and the better our skills become as we move forward.

I once read that in the scientific community, many of the biggest discoveries happen with scientists who are still in the first half of their career. I remember thinking that this seemed unusual. I would have thought that over the entire scope of their lives, they would continue to know more and discover more, i.e. more practice would lead to more and bigger discoveries. This disconnect made me consider a few things. I wonder if, at our foundation, we often stop practicing the skills we've achieved throughout our lives and professions on a regular basis. Without this continued practice, we have a tendency to fall into the trap of "regular," no longer creative and special.  I think back to the people I worked with at Drake and many others since then. We talked about the importance of being lifetime learners. Maybe what we were talking about was being a lifetime practicer. Maybe we all should consider our need to continue practicing as much as we did in our early days in every aspect of our lives.

So there are some parts of my life that I have continued to practice on regularly and some that I have let get a little stagnant. Probably time to rethink some of that. Some of it may be fine, but there are probably a couple of things that I should practice again.

How about you? And on top of that, what about adding something new that you've never tried before? 

I am working right now toward adding the capability of doing CNC routing and engraving to my shop.  Of course I am concerned about spending the money, but even more overwhelming is thinking about working with a new tool that I have no knowledge about, and a new software that drives the tool. I know that I have work to do there, and I'm quite sure that I will create pieces that don't come out perfectly and will become tinder for damp fires. I'm happy that I found a great source to get rid of cut off chunks and pieces too small to make anything out of. 

Anyway, looks like more practice of several things in my future. 

I hope that you all had a great holiday celebrating our nation's birthday, and are working to get back to your regular lives. Unless you are still on vacation. Have a good week.