Do what you're doing while you are doing it.
Ok. That sounds pretty simple, but it really isn't.
It came from a lesson that we taught to Engineering Freshmen in a study skills class. What it really means is to focus on your work, not what music is playing, or the other things drawing your attention. In boat building, it is a bit different. When working in the shop or on your project are you really focused on what you're doing? Are you thinking about the bills, the kids making noises in the background or the next step of your project. It's hard to work while your attention is divided and not only will the quality of your work suffer, being distracted can make you miss a safety issue.
Now, why do I seem to be a hypocrite? Well, I'll let you judge for yourself. Here are a series of pictures from the class I taught this past weekend.
By the way - I had been concerned about the strength of this beam - 13' long and supported at the ends, it only deflected about 1/2" with my full weight applied to the middle of the beam! I'm very pleased with the result.
While I say above that it sounds hypocritical, even with all of these different things happening in my class, I'm still "doing what I'm doing while I'm doing it" - I'm there to teach people to do build canoes!
It came from a lesson that we taught to Engineering Freshmen in a study skills class. What it really means is to focus on your work, not what music is playing, or the other things drawing your attention. In boat building, it is a bit different. When working in the shop or on your project are you really focused on what you're doing? Are you thinking about the bills, the kids making noises in the background or the next step of your project. It's hard to work while your attention is divided and not only will the quality of your work suffer, being distracted can make you miss a safety issue.
Now, why do I seem to be a hypocrite? Well, I'll let you judge for yourself. Here are a series of pictures from the class I taught this past weekend.
The interior of a Wee Lassie II getting sanded in preparation for a coating of fiberglass.
A Wee Lassie getting some epoxy.
An Osprey kayak getting deck strips.
Peruvian Walnut being ripped for stems and patterns being installed in the background.
A new pattern being made to replace a flawed one.
The new "lightweight" box beam being assembled for the Ranger canoe.
By the way - I had been concerned about the strength of this beam - 13' long and supported at the ends, it only deflected about 1/2" with my full weight applied to the middle of the beam! I'm very pleased with the result.
While I say above that it sounds hypocritical, even with all of these different things happening in my class, I'm still "doing what I'm doing while I'm doing it" - I'm there to teach people to do build canoes!
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