How many windows are open on your computer right now? Are you giving your full attention to any of them? As you read this, is you mind wandering to Facebook? If you are in your office working on a spreadsheet, do you find yourself bopping over to Twitter “just for a sec” to check in? Do you get calls from a co-worker right when you are in the middle of writing a report and open up a new window to respond to his or her question and then try to get back to your report, only to find yourself checking your email along the way? Do you believe you’ll never get everything done unless you eat lunch at your desk? We all do it. It’s called multitasking. But we have the power to overcome it.
Studies have shown that multitasking is not all it’s cracked up to be. The funny thing is that when interviewed, people believe they are more productive when they are juggling several tasks, when in fact multitasking reduces productivity by distracting us. For one reason or another, we have all become proud of our “ability” to multitask, often to the detriment of our work. Even worse, it is affecting how we relate to other people.
A new movement of sorts is beginning to spread: unitasking. It’s not really a new concept, but it’s one that might actually encourage us to better ourselves. The idea is simple: to reduce or eliminate the myriad of distractions that surround us. Of course, the number of tasks that we need to accomplish remains the same, but we approach them from a different perspective. We organize jobs and tackle them in an orderly manner.
Woodworking: the model of unitasking
Woodworking provides us with a perfect opportunity to unitask. For starters, it removes us from one of the biggest sources of distraction: the internet. For the most part, the very nature of building something with wood requires us to proceed in an ordered manner. It’s pretty hard to apply trim to a dresser before building its framework.
And yet, multitasking has become so pervasive, even expected in today’s world that I sometimes try to apply it in the woodshop. For instance, maybe I am faced with a bunch of repetitive cuts and decide to take a break from them and move over to drilling a bunch of holes into which the cut pieces need to fit. While drilling, I start to think it might be a good change of pace to begin routing out some moulding. Oh yeah, I have a TV in my shop and Norm Abram is on. I get drawn into watching “just a few minutes” even though I’ve seen it before. It doesn’t take long to see where this is heading. At the end of the day I haven’t accomplished any one task, but have many unfinished pieces that I will be faced with tomorrow.
Unitasking 101
If you are like me and are simply tired of trying to do everything at once, take action to improve not just your woodworking, but to seek fulfillment in all of your activities.
Encourage personal technology brown-outs. I’m far from a luddite; I embrace technology and believe it has the power to enhance our lives. It certainly shouldn’t complicate life. Before you get on your computer, figure out exactly what tasks you wish to accomplish. Email? Open your email program, read and respond, then close it. Facebook? Twitter? Blogs? Catch up with your stuff, one site at a time and do not go back to it. Avoid clicking on outside links until you have completed reading the site you are on. Don’t open multiple browser windows or tabs. It’s too easy to start clicking back and forth and never completely read anything.
Create an email folder for non-essential messages and drag your Aunt Polly’s email into it. In other words, that forwarded email recommending you view the latest funny viral video on YouTube. Or mark it for later reading. This will keep you from aimlessly surfing, until you have finished the stuff you really need to get done. When you have completed everything you have to do, reward yourself by catching up on those dancing hamsters.
Free your inner woodworker
In the woodshop, make a list of procedures you need to accomplish and put them in the order you wish to accomplish them. Maybe mount a whiteboard somewhere. Don’t begin a procedure until you have crossed off the previous one. Make the list for the entire project: don’t make a list of what you want to get done in a given time period.
If you encounter a problem, deal with it immediately. It’s probably tied to the task you are working on, so just think of it as part of that same procedure. Try not to put in on the back burner.
Let others know you are prioritizing. People respect honesty and directness when they understand you are engaged. If someone enters your shop with a request for you to do something, (i.e. “Honey, can you mow the lawn?”) politely tell them you will, after you complete the task you are working on. The lawn won’t become a jungle if it has to wait a little while longer. I find it very difficult to get back into a procedure if I stop midway through. I feel like I have to rebuild my momentum.
Unlearning multitasking
Of course there will always be times when we must multitask. It’s unavoidable. Obviously professional woodworkers will be faced with time-contraints and be in a more critical environment, but even they can gradually build a unitasking approach. I like to think of unitasking as a technique to strive toward to help us stay focused. It’s similar to woodworking: we know what we want and slowly gain skills that allow us to obtain it.
Well I took several photographs of the interior work but they dont seem to be in my camera. Not sure what happened to them. The last to photos did work and here they are:
The interior work went a lot faster than the exterior sections of the bowl and this completed the turning of the bowl. Its going to need finish sanding now and that should take several work sessions over the next couple of days. But all in all Im happy with the way it turned out.
Here is a photo of it on my coffee table:
The next time I will make it a little deeper and convention or not, Im going to turn a foot on the bottom-it makes the bowl look a little less bottom heavy. But this is a nice piece of work and it will work for its intended function- and that folks is what craft is all about.
Ill post the finish photos later this weekend.
Our next project involves making a fruit bowl that will be fan shaped and have very thin walls. This will present a new technical challenge for me and the wood shop, and Ill let you know when that project begins.
As always, thanks for dropping by the wood shop. See you soon,
A few additional pictures of the mystery tool along with some new thoughts and observations. You can click on any picture for a larger view.
Full tool, with quarter for scale and a new angle on the "loop" to show thickness:
A close-up of the business end - note wear pattern inside opposite corners of the slot (which I think indicates it was used as some kind of wrench):
A close-up of the end of the threaded cap - showing what I previously took to be the initials "B.H." - although now I am not so sure:
My brother Josh thinks that this might have been some kind of sewing machine wrench for changing needles, which were stored in the compartment in the handle. I like that guess, but so far I have not found any supporting information.
I dont know ... The big carrot and the big stone kind of go together in my head ... Unrelated, but related in a way too .... Both from the soil somehow .... We were getting ready for dinner Friday night and Kit came in from the garden kind of chuckling with a carrot in her hand ... Its November and weve still got a few left in the ground. This one was pretty good .... We cut it up and had it with our pasta and actually had some left over, if you can believe it ... It takes a village for a carrot like that one ... And then, today, Pete and Asa, our brother-in-law and nephew came by with a stone that Pete had given to Kit as a birthday present hmmm ... 4? ... 5? years ago. We cant remember when and though we cant remember why (it must have been cause she did something special for him) though Im thinking now it might have been Kits 50th which was actually 7 years ago. We have talked about it every year since... thinking it might go here, thinking it might go there, but it wasnt until this year that we decided where, and I finally, actually, dug a hole. It was a perfect day for it today, sunny and 50, blue sky, fall air, and all went smoothly. Beer and pizza after ... Nice afternoon and the rock is a great addition to the front of the house ... Click the pictures to enlarge them ... The site The rock and tractor arriving .. Pete of Peter Moore Masonry supervising and Asa, his son, driving ... Its schist, from a quarry in Chester, Vermont ... We picked it a long time ago from Petes field where he has a number of them available for clients ... Getting it into position for the tip up One end in the hole Upright ... We had some trouble getting it totally upright, (its a pretty heavy rock) and Sam had the bright idea to hook onto it with the pickup and a rope and tip it to vertical so we could reposition the forks and straps, relift it and dig under it where necessary .. The smiling crew awaiting the pizza and beer Like its always been there Get your own ... call Pete
Hi! I hope that you had a great weekend! Ours went by way too fast, but we did get a a lot done. Including moving the office around! Ive been wanting to move things around for a while, but the credenza is SO heavy, weve been putting it off.
The proportions + color of the pin board werent working with the rest of the space, so I decided to make a large scale abstract painting instead. I pinned this a few weeks and I kept going back to it, I love the punch of contrast that it adds to the space. So I decided to make my own version! I think it looks like a close up of coral, so I love the reference to the beach without being overly beachy :) Large scale abstract black and white paintings have been in recently, check out Bliss at Homes, Scout and Nimbles and The Hunted Interiors as well.
Ill share a short tutorial a little later, but for now here are a few pictures of our new office space.
We moved the Enjoy the Little Things art over a little to sit closer to the desk and added a few new prints.
David found these Hydrangeas in in a field while on a bike ride. Love!!
I created the frame from left over wood, so total cost for the frame was zero (isnt that always the best!)
I moved my lucite tray from the driftwood table and put a piece of wrapping paper on the bottom (from Target dollar section) to round up my pencils and other office supplies.
Finally, a view from the kitchen. Im loving the new arrangement! I really wish I would of done this a long time ago, but better late than never! This was the last project for the office (maybe a few frames to the left of the desk), so Ill have a room tour soon!
It’s November 10th, 2011 and I have some exciting news to share. I’m happy to say I just signed a new publishing deal with none other than the Taunton Press. The company that brings us Fine Woodworking Magazine, Fine Home building, Fine Gardening and Fine Cooking. I consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to work with a world class establishment regarded as the leader in it’s field for more than 30 years. The new book will be jammed packed with new projects for both the wood shop as well as the home. From shop made hand tools to furniture design and projects there will be something for everyone. In these challenging and uncertain times I feel fortunate to have the chance to write this, my second book on hand tool only, wood working and look forward to getting started and sharing the process as I go. Some more good news is we’ll be filming the entire process this time around and the web site will be undergoing a few changes as video content and pod casts become available as I get into the work. The new book is scheduled for release in time for the Holidays, 2012 which is a little more than a year away. It’s going to be an exciting 13 months and I welcome you to join me through the process. To all of my readers over the last 4 years I thank you and say stay tuned for much, much more.
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Woodworking Plans For Bank – Easy DIY Woodworking Projects Step by
