
It is the same with woodworking. You can spend too many months reading the magazines and end up disappointed in your own work. It is better to start as a beginner, unconstrained by knowing too much. Just do it. Decide on a plan and follow through. Make something. I guarantee that it won't be your finest work (that is yet to come). But it will hook you on the process. Growth is always a process. It takes time. It may take all your attention for a time. It is a choice. We invest in something, or we slide. If great things came easy everyone else would have done it first. When you get a few pieces of woodworking done, and think that you are quite the master, look at the pages of Woodwork magazine or Fine Woodworking or attend a craft show. You will see work that will challenge you and inspire your next round of growth. Then go for it. Do some more. At some point, your work will offer challenge, inspiration and encouragement to others.

There is a story I heard about a reporter asking Pablo Casals at age 94 why he still practiced. Casals had the perfect answer. He said, "I'm beginning to see some progress." I feel the same way about my woodworking.
ReplyDeleteMario