demoralized noobie

There's lots of versions of this saying...

One I often quote is, "The difference between a handyman job and a tradesman job, is once finished you will not see the tradesman's mistakes"

I consider myself a craftsman, it's about attitude and 35 odd years of experience...

I am old school and as anahl as anyone you care to think of; about my work...

Even so, I have never achieved perfection, not even close, but I never stop trying.

I no longer see my mistakes as 'mistakes'... I see it as an outcome- either desirable or undesirable. I only do things once- unless the outcome is undesirable, in which case I do it again. I certainly don't broadcast my mistakes, but they are there, all the same.

Avoiding the compound accumulation of errors is a skill all competent woodworkers must learn. On case glue ups you have to check diagonals with a tape measure- as well as internal and external squareness.

The last point is; that unless it's a monumental stuff-up, chances are that no-one else will ever see it! We are all so much more critical of our own work than others normally are. Relax, you're not doing anything wrong or different, we've all been there and continue to go there.......
 
JoggleStick said:
There's lots of versions of this saying...

One I often quote is, "The difference between a handyman job and a tradesman job, is once finished you will not see the tradesman's mistakes"

I consider myself a craftsman, it's about attitude and 35 odd years of experience...

I am old school and as anahl as anyone you care to think of; about my work...

Even so, I have never achieved perfection, not even close, but I never stop trying.

I no longer see my mistakes as 'mistakes'... I see it as an outcome- either desirable or undesirable. I only do things once- unless the outcome is undesirable, in which case I do it again. I certainly don't broadcast my mistakes, but they are there, all the same.

Avoiding the compound accumulation of errors is a skill all competent woodworkers must learn. On case glue ups you have to check diagonals with a tape measure- as well as internal and external squareness.

The last point is; that unless it's a monumental stuff-up, chances are that no-one else will ever see it! We are all so much more critical of our own work than others normally are. Relax, you're not doing anything wrong or different, we've all been there and continue to go there.......
Well said, jogglestick.... 
 
Don't beat yourself up. On any substantial project there are literally thousands of opportunities to get something wrong, yet only one opportunity to get it "perfect". From a purely statistical standpoint, the odds of getting it "perfect", which is what most of us are striving for, is at least a thousand to one. When you consider the problem of accumulating error, its a miracle we aren't still sitting on cut-off logs and eating on our laps.
 
MagnumPapa said:
Don't beat yourself up. On any substantial project there are literally thousands of opportunities to get something wrong, yet only one opportunity to get it "perfect". From a purely statistical standpoint, the odds of getting it "perfect", which is what most of us are striving for, is at least a thousand to one. When you consider the problem of accumulating error, its a miracle we aren't still sitting on cut-off logs and eating on our laps.

Hi,

  Welcome to the FOG!  [smile]

I give up.    The odds are stacked against us  [unsure]

Seth
 
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