In my last post, I talked about how to become a better woodworker by stopping watching YouTube. Let’s expand on that a little. If you turn off YouTube and go out in your shop and start making stuff, there is a good chance you will make a mistake in some shape or form. Mistakes are inevitable. The longer you do something, the more cards you get stacked against you, increasing your chances of making mistakes.
There are three ways to react when you make a mistake.
You can get mad and throw your workpiece across the room, possibly causing more destruction and hurting yourself. This can trigger a chain reaction of temper tantrums, mistakes, and regrets.
You can just give up, quit, and walk away like a pussy.
You can stop, step back, and analyze the situation. Ask yourself. What did I do to cause this mistake? You know, that personal responsibility thing. Was it because I was cheap and bought an inferior tool that failed? Is there something lacking in my skill set, and do I need to learn a new skill? Was I just not paying attention, and I need to work on staying focused?
Many things could cause mistakes, but analyzing what went wrong instead of giving up or throwing a temper tantrum will allow us to learn from our failures and move forward with new knowledge for the next project.
There is also a lot of value in trying to fix mistakes. As I have continued my journey as a maker, I have realized that some mistakes are not as devastating as they appear on the surface and will be corrected later. Sometimes, you must make it worse before you can improve it. When you stain a piece of wood, it looks lifeless and gross when the stain dries. Then you apply the polyurethane topcoat to seal it in, and the urethane brings the stain color to life, and suddenly it pops and looks gorgeous.
Many other mistakes are like old friends, the pain-in-the-ass ones. You have encountered and know how to fix them before, so there is no need to panic when they come around.
Mistakes will help us grow, keep pushing ourselves, and keep making them. Then, analyze what caused them and how to fix them.
