Being A Maker Requires You To Be Uncomfortable

In 2021, I was so overwhelmed with a project, that I almost quit making things online.

When I decided to build a giant Mythosaur Skull out of 2x4s, things started going wrong from the very beginning. There were gaps massive gaps in my glue up, the shape wasn’t what I wanted, and pieces broke off. I even got a pretty serious cut just picking up the material from the hardware store.

I didn’t know how I was going to complete the project and everything in me wanted to quit.

How Did I Get In Over My Head?

Massive over-confidence is to blame.

Like many millennials, I grew up being told I could do anything I set my mind to. I took this to heart and thought that I could build pretty much any project, including this one. But the failures started piling up with very few wins and it was getting to me.

I started to only be able to see the failures in the project and believe that they reflected that I was a failure as well.

Why Did I Finish The Project?

I realized failure was a choice.

The project had lived in my head for years and I had sunk hundreds of dollars into it. I had to know whether I could pull it off or not. If I quit, I knew that it would haunt me.

Instead of looking at the massive accumulation of failures, I remembered that each one was actually pretty small.

If I let myself quit this project, I knew I would regret it and it would make quitting future projects easier and more likely.

Momentum is fickle, yet consistent. Failures drive momentum that can be reversed, but quitting was momentum in the wrong direction. Pushing through gave me even more momentum to continue to try projects that scared me.

Completing the 2x4 Mythosaur Skull taught me one of the biggest lessons of my time so far as a Maker: everyone has projects that set them back, but successful Makers push through and refuse to quit.