How Courage Improves your Woodwork
Courage is touted by society and the media as this glamourous attribute all hero’s have. Romanticized by movies and TV with brawny hero’s leaping into burning buildings or fighting off the evil villain, and despite all odds, their perseverance, bravery, and courage led them through the flames unscathed. In reality, courage is not glamorous, it’s messy. It’s an internal battle where your mind and body tells you to not move forward out of fear, but you overcome it.
We all have fears. Fear of falling, fear of spiders, but most detrimental, the fear of failure. Fear is what holds us back. The problem is, inaction often leads to failure. Delaying a project because you were scared of the complexity or unsure of how to make it work. But that inaction only delayed much needed skill building and growth.
One of my favorite quotes is from Homer Simpson, “trying is the first step toward failure.” These un-wise words sit in my mind and remind me that if I don’t take that first step and fail, I will never learn and overcome.
I have countless examples, but I’ll share my biggest project to date. Summer of 2022 I got a request from a client to upgrade their existing built-in’s countertops to solid white oak and add shiplap and floating shelves over the top of the built ins. In reality, this was a simple project. Everything was flat. Flat counters, flat shelves, flat shiplap. Nothing complex about it, but it was large and I had a lot of firsts that gave me pause. First time installing shiplap. First time working in a client’s house on my own. First time making counters of this size, 6 feet long by 28 inches deep.
And that’s when the fear set in. What if I can’t do this? What if I make it wrong? What if my measurements were wrong? But all those what ifs were unproductive. These questions were fear that I wasn’t good enough and I needed to stifle them, change that worry into learning. So I took those what ifs and turned them into how’s.
How do I install shiplap so I’m not there for 2 days installing, filling holes, and painting?
How do I scribe counters to a wall so they fit perfectly?
How do I joint a 6 foot long board without a jointer?
And each of those how’s was searchable, learnable, actionable. I built my confidence by learning. Then I overcame my fear by doing. In doing, I made lots of mistakes, but the end result was exactly what the client wanted and I got what I wanted. A happy client who will provide future commissions and referrals, but more importantly, new skills brought on by my courage to get out of my own way and do the job despite my fears.
If you find yourself in a situation where you are dragging your feet to start a project, recognize that your procrastination is really you letting fear stop you from learning. So be courageous. Take on the job that’s too big, make mistakes, and build your skills.