Well… Let’s give this blog thing a go and see what happens! I’ve always enjoyed short form writing so it seemed like a good idea to package my experiences and insights from the shop into a form that others might benefit from (or at the very least be mildly entertaining).
I’ll use this blog to share woodworking tips and tricks, review and critique past builds, and also dive into some of the philosophical benefits that this craft provides.
If you’re a woodworker – awesome, if not no worries. My intent is for the content to be relatable regardless of experience in the craft and that you take something useful away with you.
Ok let’s get to the topic of this post… GOALS.
I will apply these concepts to woodworking but I promise you they are universal. I’m also not going to touch on the fundamentals of goal setting (SMART goals etc.), you can get that from google.
The Goal of Goals: See the Big Picture First
So first off, why do we need to set goals? Can’t we just work hard, make progress and ultimately be successful? Eh. Setting goals gives us a chance to take a step back and think holistically about what we want to achieve. This kind of clarity isn’t easy to access when you are nose down in the day-to-day grind, jumping from task to task, project to project with no time in between to reflect.
Stepping back and reflecting on what we want to achieve also allows us to see whether we are already on the right track towards our goals or if we need to make adjustments (or maybe we’re going the complete opposite direction and don’t know it).
Tip 1: Escape what’s Familiar
One of the prime reasons that I set goals in woodworking is that without goals, I tend to fall into familiar habits. For me, this looks like designs that have the same features, using the same materials, employing familiar build methods, staying in my comfort bubble. Does this mean that my current way is the best way? Probably not – it’s just what I’ve settled into. It also doesn’t mean that trying a new way of doing something is going to be a “better” way. It might be worse – but I can’t know that until I experiment and gain a frame of reference.
A practical way to identify potential areas for improvement is to make a list of the ways in which you currently go about doing things. Write down the process and then accompany that with the reason why you do it that way.
For example, when I build a box with miter joints, there isn’t a great way to get good clamping pressure on the glue joints because of the awkward angle. To solve this, I make scrap pieces with 45 degree angles along the long edge and I super glue them to each corner of the box on both sides. This allows me to get clamps on all joints and apply clamping pressure in the direction of the joint. The downside? I have to whack all of the clamping blocks off the workpiece and clean up all the superglue. Why do I do it this way? It’s worked in the past. Could there be a better way? Most definitely. I could craft some reusable clamping blocks with an abrasive surface on the bottom so that I could clamps the blocks to the workpiece instead of glueing them. THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY WORTH EXPLORING.
Tip 2: Get Clear on Your Scope
Another reason for setting goals in woodworking is to make clear what you don’t want to spend your time doing. Woodworking is a vastly expansive craft with many focus areas and subsets to explore. There’s traditional joinery, carving, marquetry, scrollwork, turning, CNC, Kumiko gridwork, wood bending, hand tool woodworking, THE LIST GOES ON.
Whether it’s out of shear curiosity, commission requests, or just ADHD, you might be inclined to try everything – dipping your toes into many different areas. This might be a great idea if your goal is to experiment with new methods and processes, but if your goal is to elevate and perfect one specific area, then you’ll be spinning your wheels as you become a jack of all trades. So, it behooves you to decide how narrow or broad you want your focus to be so that you can devote all your efforts to that scope.
Sometimes we spend all our effort trying to be as efficient as we can be, cutting down time and improving our workflow. But that is literally foolish if we are not working on the right things. Which one would you choose, being efficient but not effective (going fast in the wrong direction), or being effective but not efficient (going slow in the right direction)? Just whisper the answer to yourself.
Tip 3: Avoid “Should Do” Goals
Another thing to consider when goal setting is to make sure your goals are something you’re actually excited about. This may sound trite, but it’s not uncommon to fall into the trap of making goals that you “should” do. Man I really hate that word. Maybe it looks good on paper, maybe you would like to have the outcome, but it’s likely that you will despise the journey to get there.
What does that mean for perseverance? It means you’re going to look for any exit ramp you can find to quit. Didn’t have the time, other “priorities” came up. The truth is you probably didn’t want it enough from the outset. My advice here is to choose goals that you would enjoy failing at – where the journey will be worth the effort regardless of reaching the destination.
Tip 4: Framing is Everything
Dovetailing with the idea of choosing goals that excite you - how you frame a goal can have a huge impact on how you execute it. What do you mean Steve?....
If you view a goal with a succeed/fail mentality, what you have done inadvertently is raise the stakes and your fear of failure. So how can you reframe? Consider it an experiment. When you conduct an experiment, you don’t really fail – you gather findings. You figure out what works and what doesn’t, and you learn from it. This has been a huge mindset shift for me with my own personal goals and woodworking specific ones.
The barrier to entry is much lower when we consider something an experiment to learn from versus a goal that we can potentially risk failing to meet. It’s amazing how changes in language and framing of goals can make them more user friendly. Instead of the objective being “successfully complete X”, maybe it’s “see what happens if I do Y”.
I’ll close with sharing a couple of my woodworking goals for 2026 along with some relevant details for why and how I plan to accomplish them.
Design and build a furniture project that incorporates bent lamination. (Bent lam. is a technique that I don’t have much experience with but want to learn to elevate my furniture designs. I don’t want to be limited by using only rectilinear shapes in my furniture. I'm genuinely excited to try this method out and am perfectly ok with learning what doesn't work on the first couple attempts.)
Design/build an heirloom kids kitchen table (This project will be for my son so I can use it as an opportunity to experiment with new designs and build methods to elevate my skill set. The cost of failure is low as this is not for a client, so I can have the freedom to try new things that might not be successful but will help me to learn and grow.)
Complete a design package for a signature furniture line (This is a longer-term project that I began last year to create an original furniture design line. This has been a big challenge for me to develop organic designs that fit a common style that I can call my signature. I have been enjoying the process as it allows me to further my design skills in Fusion360, and I am even more excited about the outcome as I would like to market and build these pieces for clients in the future.)
Let me know in the comments what goals you have struggled with in the past and what you think the reason might have been. Sharing challenges with others can be a huge stepping-stone to understanding and overcoming them!
Thanks for reading, until next time.
- Steve