No, you don't have to get it right the first time
But you probably will - so try
Experienced makers often share this wisdom: You probably won't get it right the first time, and that's okay.
The point is to try, they say, and then keep trying. Yes - go out there and give it a shot - an important life lesson for anyone. Especially for newbies, this advice is worth its weight in gold (or whatever raw maker material is your passion).
The reason we should expect failure is apparent. In making, for one, we are continually learning on the job. Creating something from scratch takes skills that must be realized. And often the only way to get these skills is to try and try again.
Except when we should expect to succeed the first time, that is. Which is more often than we think possible.
A challenge new makers face (all of us in anything, really) is knowing how and when to push ourselves beyond expectation. We will surely fail if we expect to fail. We manifest defeat, in a way.
Oftentimes we end up making ourselves fail because we self-sabotage. We unknowingly resign ourselves to a job being "just for practice." And we end up taking shortcuts or not doing the needed homework first. Inevitably, we do a sloppy job, not because we couldn't do better, but because we didn't try to do better.
And failure becomes certain.
The trick then is to expect we might fail but to give it our all, simultaneously expecting that we won't. It's a mind game but one that we can win if we try. But to do so takes determination and preparation. We have to put in the effort up front especially when we try something entirely new.
But why expend the effort? If failure is a learning opportunity, and practice makes perfect, why not settle into the process and let what come may? It might be easier upfront and ultimately result in the same outcome if we get a few failures under our belt.
For one, it feels good to get things right the first time!
We surprise ourselves and feel accomplished when we land that inaugural leap. It builds a unique brand of confidence and trains us to tackle things we've never done before - because deep down inside, we know we probably can.
Another reason, at least in making, is saving time, money, and materials.
Sure, experimenting is necessary at times. But it’s nice to do what we have to do and then be done with it. We save dough and create less waste which is a win-win. And it also frees us up to make something else (or take a nap).
Granted, some tasks will be all but impossible to get right the first time. These are those incredibly nuanced schemes where there is no substitute for experience.
For me, one such example is welding.
No amount of preparation prepared me for the artistry required to successfully weld. Sure, I watched tons of videos and have seen countless welders weld over the years. And I understand the physics behind it better than many. But none of this mattered; I had to hold the wand and strike an arc to know what to expect in welding.
My first weld resulted in a hole burned hole right through my piece of practice steel. I had the settings too hot, and I didn't move the wand fast enough. Common enough mistake, but I still couldn’t avoid it. I had to feel the process to know the process. But then, once I did, and after some more trial and error (and quite a bit of wasted material), I began to understand this subtle artform. And I started creating welds that I felt good about applying to real projects.
In welding, never would I have gotten it right the first time. So expecting initial failure helped me keep on keepin' on until I got it right. And this is, of course, an example where expecting failure helped me power through to ultimate success.
But other things are less nuanced than welding, even when new. And here, the qualified expecting failure but aiming to succeed earns its keep. Silicon mold making/plastic casting was such a skill for me.
Molding and casting involve taking an object and creating a mold, often in silicone. Then, using the mold, a duplicate of the original is cast in another material, sometimes plastic resin. I needed this skill to create a research device I am building for a client. But I'd never done molding and casting before, so I set out and researched how (a.k.a., I watched a lot of YouTube videos).
Molding and casting were new for me, as I said, but the individual steps were somewhat familiar. I can measure quantities accurately, for example. And I know how to mix reagents well. I can also pour without making a mess, and I can do all of these things efficiently under time constraints (all probably honed during my years as a lab scientist). So I employed what I knew to a procedure I had only seen on video, which worked out rather well. With confidence in my abilities, I decided to give it my all and get things right the first time. And in this instance, it worked.
I pulled off a solid mold and cast right out of the gate.
Yeah, I'm bragging a bit here, but for a good reason. Silicone is darned expensive. And while I enjoyed the process and am eager to learn more, I'm stoked that I didn't waste any material on my first try. Mainly because this is an on-contract build, so it keeps the bottom line in my favor.
The thing is, if I had screwed it up, I would have fallen back on expecting defeat - and would have tried again. With many other things, this is indeed what happens to me! I fail on an almost daily basis. But I try and never let the expectation of failure get in the way of trying to do it right the first time. And as often as not, I am pleasantly surprised.
There's a bit of a paradox here - as I said, a mind game.
One must expect to fail to soften the blow of defeat, but try and not fail because success is more motivating than failure - sometimes.
See, a paradox. No. More like a conundrum.
Whatever you call it, it is possible to both expect success and failure, and win no matter what. You just have to try like you’ll win for sure, but don’t give in if you lose.
So go out there and expect a few setbacks. Understand that you might at first not succeed. Know that you’ll fail, but don’t know it too much. Because there’s a good chance you’ll win.
There’s a good chance you’ll get it right the first time.
Until next time.
JRC