Connecting woodworking to your day job

[ryanthefloyd]

Hey everyone,

Like a lot of us, I have a full time day job in an office and woodwork on the side.  When I'm at work, I often dream about being out in my shop. I love being able to connect what I do at work to work in my shop.  I wrote a quick article about lessons I have learned out in the shop that help me in my office job.  Its posted on LinkedIn here and on my personal site here. 

I would love to hear what you think about it. What have you learned from woodworking that has spilled over into other aspects of your life?

[Eric.]

That's a great blog post, man.  I feel the same way and I try to live by the aphorism, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right."  Or as McCartney put it, "When you got a job to do you got to do it well."  It's true in the shop and every other aspect of life.  And you're paid off in the end if you stick to it.

[Coop]

Ryan, Your article was very well written and I agree with every word.  However.......

Woodworking for me has taken a different turn. It just damn near takes up my whole waking hours. When I wake up, I crab a cup of coffee and my ipad and take care of business while checking out this forum. At work, I'll do a little at the desk between trips to the lumberyard and Rocklers. Then back here to again check this site before I go to CL to check on bargains for the shop. I pay $65 a week for someone to do my yard, thus giving me more time in the shop. I could go on and on. Woodworking sucks and I love it!!

[Brendon_t]

Great piece ryan.  I wish I could re post you to my feed. 

[Immortan D]

Great post. I'm not sure if woodworking is contributing anything to other aspects of my life, because I've always been the DIY type or person, long before I embraced woodworking as a hobby. But I'm still thinking about it.

[Chet]

Great article Ryan.  Lots of good points.  I liked the part about critical thinking,  This is something that is being over looked in education.  I have a grandson that is a freshman in high school and gets good grades but struggles with working through a problem when it shows up when we work together in the shop.   He is starting to see that through some thought you can find a way to fix or work around what happened.  If that is all he gets out of wood working I would be happy, but he does come over quit often to do something in the shop, which is easy for him because they live next door, so he definetely seems to enjoy it.

If you pursue doing the projects in your hobby to the best of your ability it can have an effect on all of your pursuits if you welcome it.  You don't have to be OCD about it just your best effort.  I also think that something like wood working, if you let it, will help you slow down your life.

[banderson]

Great article with a lot of good points.  Thanks for sharing.

[ryanthefloyd]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Consistently impressed by the supportiveness of the woodworking community.  

[wtnhighlander]

Great thoughts, Ryan! I have to agree with Chet on the critical thinking part. Most kids seem to struggle with this concept, and I think a lot of it is because of limited life experience. Too much time spent learning theory in a classroom, or working through the repeating patterns of a video game. Get 'em outside ir into the shop and DO SOMETHING in the real world! If it goes unexpectedly, make it right or make it a feature.