No More Excuses

I've spent the bulk of my life interested in making things, taking stuff apart, and finding out what makes them work. I have dabbled in pretty much all of the “mainstream” hobbies and a few more less “mainstream” ones. I have made some real quality items in my day, and a whole lot of not so quality items. The majority, truthfully, were never finished. You see, I have this problem and its multi faceted.

1. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and take a lot of pride in my work. More often than not, this will be what stops my project. I will hit a point where I am not happy with my product and just quit. Which leads us to my second point.

2. I am lazy. I really am. I look for excuses in everything to explain away why I haven't finished something. Sometimes this will ground a project before it has even taken flight. 

3. Probably not the last of my problems, but this is enough self deprecation in a single post. I am a dreamer and I have an excessively addictive personality. When I find a project, a hobby, or anything for that matter, I will skip sleep, tirelessly learning all that I can about the matter at hand. Because of this, I can burn myself out on a subject, or hell, stumble across something in my research that is more appealing then the original topic. Its happened before, and I would be lying if I said it would never happen again. More often then not, all of this dreaming leads to excuse making and I never get around to actually using any of this knowledge. Which is why I guess we are here today.

2017 rolled around and I said I was done making excuses. I set an extraordinarily simple goal for myself. I would make and use my own knife, and my own wallet. I have been interested in blacksmithing for about a decade, and over the past couple years I have focused that desire into knife making. My grandfather was a hobbyist leather-worker and when he passed I inherited his tools and a few of the wallets he had made. My shitty Fossil wallet was falling to pieces, giving me the perfect excuse to make my own. Needless to say, the year is half way over and I am using my grandfathers wallet and a store bought knife. I told you I was lazy.

So, now, literally at the apex of the year, I will levy that goal once more. I will finish a wallet, and I will carry my own handmade knife. I am tired of making excuses and this is where I stop. Regardless of outcome, I will finish. No more stopping short because I don't like the perceived outcome. Finishing a sub par product will do nothing but teach me how to make it better. I am putting this out there to document my adventures and to have something that is keeping me accountable to my dreams. So, if there is anyone out there reading this, strap in, it could get bumpy.