3 Unexpected Benefits Of Starting To Make Things (Beyond Building Custom Projects)
Since I started Making things in 2017, every aspect of my life as improved.
Since those early days, I've built custom built-in cabinets, a Star Wars office desk, power carved a Deadpool head and Mythosaur Skull, and built and designed countless other projects. It didn't start out with large projects though and some of my first projects were terrible, like our garage door key holder that still has hook screws poking out the back. Over the years, I've learned so much about woodworking, 3D printing, and incorporating electronics and am excited for upcoming projects too.
But I've noticed 3 unexpected benefits of starting to Make things beyond building projects that have engrained themselves in every day life.
Benefit 1: Increased Problem Solving Skills
Problem solving is essential is every profession to some degree, so anything that increases that skill is good.
My full-time job is all about solving problems in Financial Models and, in addition to a degree in accounting and finance, I have a heavy background in computer science. On paper, my degree and background make it a perfect fit, but Making things has acted as a multiplier. Physically making things, taking them apart, understanding what the components do, and putting them back together solidifies those skills better than any digital tool can do.
Computer science gave problem solving a solid foundation, but Making things made it real and added the ability to visualize the digital problems.
Benefit 2: Repair Confidence
Repairs build on the problem solving skills by expanding it to fixing problems myself that we'd otherwise have to pay someone else to fix.
Owning a home (or dealing with a slow landlord) provides a seemingly endless list of things that need repair. By building things and seeing I can solve physical problems with tools, my self confidence in my ability to fix things increased. Although I won't touch HVAC or natural gas lines, I've fixed leaky faucets, drywall, ceiling fans, and overhead lighting all without prior experience because I believed in my ability to take things apart, diagnose the issue, find what I needed online, and apply it in reality.
Simply being able to understand enough to know what to search for online is a good additional skill as well, but it also saves money not having to pay someone for an hour of work at a premium.
Benefit 3: Modification Ideas
Finally, I've started looking at ways of modifying what we have or what we needed to purchase to suit our specific needs.
When our kids needed a desk for school work and we couldn't find exactly what we needed from IKEA, I was confident we could get the parts we needed and modify them easily to suit the need (and fast timeline). Now, some might consider wanting to modify things a detriment because I now see most things as needing modification. However, it's helpful to know where things need to be built 100% from scratch and what can be purchased to save time and tweaked slightly.
Custom modifications also personalize purchases, which helps in creating a space that feels truly your own.
