how good are you really?

[10KPete]

I'm just so darned happy to be retired, alive and having fun. If I mess up a part, big deal. I've got a little time, I hope, to make another!

No worries, Mate!

Pete

[Kim]

My response is going to sound similar to others, but here goes:

I'm not that great, but I'm better than I was, and I feel that I'm continuing to learn new skills and improve existing ones.  So, I'm quite enjoying our little hobby.

However, I do find that if I spend more than 4-5 hours in my shop consecutively, I start feeling pressure to "get it done" and it starts to feel less fun and more like work.  So, I'm learning to stop before I get to that point.  It keeps it fun.  When it stops being fun, its work, and I don't want to work any more than I have to.  Especially for stuff I'm not getting paid to do!

And though I'm not that good, and I can see many imperfections in what I do, I treat those as things I'll do better NEXT time.  And I try to focus on the improvements I've made, and the additional complexity I've taken on.  Cause really, what fun would it be to have no where to improve?  Nothing more to learn?  I'd get board and find something else to do!

It helps keep it fun, which is important to me for a hobby
Kim

[gary.a.ayres]

I always focus on the mistakes and glitches. They come rushing to the front while the ok bits recede into the background. Other people saying 'it looks good to me' doesn't seem to make any difference because I know the errors are there.

However, there is a cure for this affliction: consume a couple of beers and a goodly amount of red wine and then go and look again. It's surprising the difference it makes.

 

[propforward]

Fun thread.

"How good are you really?"

Not nearly as good as I thought I was. That was humbling at first, but then I just embraced it and went with it. Learn new techniques, be honest about results. Sometimes I get a result that is every bit as good as what I would expect to get if I paid a machine shop to make something. Other times, not so much. Sometimes I scrap parts. That's embarrassing, maybe even a little annoying, but at the end of the day, I am really enjoying machining. It is challenging, rewarding, and the focus it takes gets my mind off other things and lets me unwind. So if I'm not all that "good" at it, I don't care a whole lot. I did, for a while, but now I'm all about having fun, and frankly I'm making progress and improving as a result.

Time away from the hobby can be important when a roadblock hits. Such is life.

So there.

[zeeprogrammer]

Well said, Stuart. We are kin.

[Flyboy Jim]

I always focus on the mistakes and glitches. They come rushing to the front while the ok bits recede into the background. Other people saying 'it looks good to me' doesn't seem to make any difference because I know the errors are there.

However, there is a cure for this affliction: consume a couple of beers and a goodly amount of red wine and then go and look again. It's surprising the difference it makes.

 

It's nice to see this thread surface again. It was interesting to go back and read what my "pearls of wisdom" were a year and a half ago. 

Anyway Gary, to add to your cure for the affliction....................give it some time. I've built things and knew where the errors were. However, some time later, whatever the project was, it looked good and I couldn't remember for the life of what the errors were! 

Of course, that said,............these days I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast     ..................but I can remember all the kids names that were at my 1st grade birthday party! 

Jim

[gary.a.ayres]

Anyway Gary, to add to your cure for the affliction....................give it some time. I've built things and knew where the errors were. However, some time later, whatever the project was, it looked good and I couldn't remember for the life of what the errors were! 

Indeed, Jim. The cure I suggested is effective but only temporarily so. As you say, just giving it some space often helps achieve a more balanced view.

Acknowledge and learn from the mistakes (which often arise out of inattention, impatience or complacency)  but don't get so caught up in self-criticism that they get more than their fair share of the attention. Otherwise - as many have said above - it stops being fun, and where's the fun in that?

[Jo]

Sadly of late "good" only occurs in short bursts between much longer spats of "Why on earth did I do that"  or "what was I doing"  or more often of late "why can't I work out how to do this"   

The girls have told me I have something they call "baby brain" and NO its nothing to do with a mad desire for a baby  The symptoms are if I try to do something which requires any sort of concentration after an hour I find myself totally unable to think straight 


Maybe it is a symptom of having been retired for 18 months 

Jo

[zeeprogrammer]

The symptoms are if I try to do something which requires any sort of concentration after an hour I find myself totally unable to think straight 
Maybe it is a symptom of having been retired for 18 months 

Interesting. I've noticed the same problem.
We need a solution. Something other than (shudder) returning to work.

[gbritnell]

Ok here goes!
The question can be answered very simply or drawn out to great lengths.
Me personally in my life I have had the good fortune to have been exposed to many of the manual crafts, art, plumbing, woodwork, mechanics and not the least of which is machining. Whenever I was around someone who was doing something I took a great interest and asked a lot of questions.
I think for those of us that have had similar exposures it comes down to dedication to do the best in whichever discipline we enjoy the most.
 You have to take into account that in general today's culture doesn't expose the youth to the many manual arts that we were exposed to unless a parent passes along his knowledge.
 As far as mistakes, who doesn't make them? I don't know how many times I've made a part over with a head slap thinking "why on earth did I do that?" I guess where the dividing line between our satisfaction with a finished piece and the next person is where we choose to say "I'm happy with the part!" Warts and all. Some choose to redo a job or part until it's basically perfect. My response is whatever makes you happy. In this life it's all about happiness and whatever we can do to make ourselves, or others happy, then go for it!
 Everyone has had good responses to the original question so take a little from each and enjoy the day.
gbritnell

[Jo]

Something other than (shudder) returning to work.

Bad boy    No one in their right minds wants to go to work  especially after they have tasted the joys of retirement 


Now what was I doing 

Jo

[Mcgyver]

  I guess where the dividing line between our satisfaction with a finished piece and the next person is where we choose to say "I'm happy with the part!" Warts and all. Some choose to redo a job or part until it's basically perfect. My response is whatever makes you happy.

agreed.....its a hobby so creating a happy state is the reason for it all.  What is happiness?  My philosopher uncle would say something like its when pleasure overcomes pain.  Me, I think it was to do with striving and triumph; that sense of accomplishment.  that means at whatever level you are, somehow happiness is connected with pushing yourself slightly out of the comfort zone to do more. 

One chap I know presents his models with a long string of "It should be like this, but to heck that", "I couldn't be bother with this thing", " who has time for such and such".  The whole effort was a study in undershooting what he was capable of doing and knew was the 'right' way.   I wonder if he'll have much of a sense of happiness at its completion.  Maybe just because he gets to see the end of it lol.  Or perhaps it does make him happy.  I guess we really only know our own psychology, if that.

[propforward]

I always focus on the mistakes and glitches.

If someone wants to improve, then it is necessary to do this. Most of us here - myself for sure, and clearly you, get a lot of satisfaction out of making things, and seeing a general improvement as time and number of parts made progresses. But it's also important to acknowledge when something came out well. A critical eye, and then standing back and declaring that yes, this part came out as "good" and is what was wanted, and having a bit of understanding why it came out "good", is just as important as understanding why something went wrong.

I'm not a perfectionist, I've made parts that I ended up saying "good enough", moved on with the project and got it to a successful completion, only to find that next time I made a similar part, wonder of wonders, it came out much better than last time.

Most of all, as long as you get a sense of fulfillment / enjoyment out of it, then it's all good. I fly cut a piece of aluminum yesterday - that little act alone was very satisfying.

You can celebrate little successes like that with a fine ale or a red wine also.       

I've seen your stuff Gary, you make good parts, I think you should be proud of your achievements over all. I'm enjoying seeing your steam plant progress. 

[gerritv]

Life IMO is about learning. Learning is done by doing. Each day I try to learn something, apply it and then improve on that if I need that skill again.

I started machining as a hobby 6 years ago. I bit off more than my little machine could chew, but with persistence and trial/error got a long way in. Then I bought a larger lathe, and things improved again. Ditto with drill grinding, after 6 drills I can now consistently do a four-facet grind with my Alexander single-lip grinder. Thankfully the first ones were jobber length, one is now stub length but it cuts well.

So, how good am I really? Better than some, not as good as others but always good enough for me. And forever willing to learn how to improve. My whole life has been lived that way, all 71 of them. Best thing is that I am content.

Gerrit

[propforward]

I think I'm all out of wisdom. I didn't have very much to begin with. I just wish I was in my shoppe making chips. But I'm stuck at work, earning money to pay the shoppe heating and leccy bills. Oh well.

Better stop wasting time on the intertubez and get back to it.