Thing of the Week: A Kick in the Mr. Fancy Pants

I knew I was on to something when I forgot to eat. When something captures my imagination I tend to be an “all in” kind of person. Things I’ve been analyzing and discussing for years started falling in to place once I had a vision for this website. The keystone was the decision to do a Thing of the Week.

I’m hoping to transition my online presence into something that allows me to connect with more people who like what I like. I’ve heard it explained that everyone is either a consumer or producer. I like making stuff. Other people enjoy the stuff I make. I’m hoping that this site will provide inspiration to others to go out and make their own stuff or have me make stuff for them.

Over the course of 2010 I am attempting to make and catalog one thing per week. I know right now that this is extremely ambitious, but that is part of the fun. This project is about taking risks, dreaming big and being ok with the failures that will surely accompany the successes.

Now this is not an original idea. In this particular case it was a one-two punch that finally sparked me to action. For a couple of years I have been a fan of Jonathan Coulton’s music and really liked the success of his Thing a Week experiment. More recently Wil Wheaton issued a challenge to his readers to Get Excited and Make Things (He uses a couple of naughty words. You have been warned).

This website is the first result of this idea. See what I did there? I’m counting the site as a TotW. It was a lot of work for this neophyte blogity webberoo to get from no site to this site so I’m counting it.

Expect more from me in the coming weeks. Maybe it will be a painting or drawing or some photos. It might be the console table I’ve been meaning to build. Perhaps I’ll show you some recent projects like my low-cost drying rack. Half of the reason I’m doing this is to get my ideas in front of you.

This is also part of my goal setting. I’m hoping by posting this goal here it will add a little accountability weight to the idea. Besides, I think you guys will give me some good encouragement to push through this project.

I knew I was on to something when I forgot to eat. When something captures my imagination I tend to be an “all in” kind of person. Things I’ve been analyzing and discussing for years started falling in to place once I had a vision for this website. I was so focused that I forgot to eat lunch one day and dinner on another.

Now this is not an original idea. In this particular case it was a one-two punch that finally sparked me to action. For a couple of years I have been a fan of Jonathan Coulton’s [http://www.jonathancoulton.com/] music and really liked the success of his Thing a Week experiment [http://www.jonathancoulton.com/primer/thing-a-week/]. More recently Wil Wheaton [http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/] issued a challenge to his readers to Get Excited and Make Things [http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/11/get-excited-and-make-things.html] (He uses a couple of naughty words. You have been warned.).

Expect more from me in the coming weeks. Maybe it will be a painting or drawing. It might be a console table I’ve been meaning to build. Perhaps I’ll showcase some recent projects like my low-cost drying rack. Half of the reason I’m doing this is to get my ideas in front of you.

This is also part of my goal setting [ref other post]. I’m hoping by posting this goal here it will add a little accountability weight to the idea. Besides, I think you guys will give me some good encouragement to push through this project.

One thought on “Thing of the Week: A Kick in the Mr. Fancy Pants”

What a perfect outlet for an IND’er. Take a product, use it for a bit, give your critique, and then suggest a better solution. I’ve done it for years much to my wife’s embarrassment sometimes. I used to crawl under furniture at the store and tell sales people how their “all wood” furniture was really “all press board” which technically is wood but not near as good.
I think you have made a great start with your web site. I might be so inspired to do the same, but my composing text would take every bit of my waking hours. I’d never get anything done, and I think you can agree, what good is it to spend all your time critiqing but never doing. For years I have written down ideas for products that improve on something I have encountered. I guess I could create a folder called “that would be cool” and file them away or even share my ideas in a blog. (I’m not busting on your virgin blog. I’ve already placed the shortcut on my desktop.) But maybe this is just the first step.
I recently went to the High Museum in Atlanta to see a Leonardo DaVinci exhibit. The exhibit itself was only decent, but I left with a thought related to one of his journal comments. He basically stated that the death of creative accomplishment comes when we settle into our mundane lives, jobs and relationships. DaVinci was a person who was sufficiently accomplished, but more importantly, he explored a diverse range of practices in art, science, engineering, etc. I left Atlanta with a renewed fear, not of personal accomplishment, but one of never exploring. DaVinci could have settled in and made a fortune painting commissioned portraits and then died depressed and unfulfilled.
So maybe that’s the challenge. What am I (are you) going to accomplish (or attempt) in 2010? 2010 is already going to be a year of accomplishments as we pull our country back on its feet. We need to be inspired to take risks, especially right now. Thanks for your blog. Good luck on your goals for 2010.