By Dave Miller, Chairman
If you walk through the Newtown Shed on a Tuesday afternoon, you’ll see plenty of finished items—polished bowls, sturdy bird feeders, and repaired chairs. But if you look under the workbenches or in the “waiting area,” you’ll see something just as important: the unfinished projects.
No Deadlines, No Pressure
In our working lives, we were all driven by deadlines. We had clocks to punch and supervisors to answer to. One of the greatest gifts of the Men’s Shed is that we’ve abolished the clock. If a project takes six months because you spent five of those months drinking tea and talking about the best way to cut a dovetail, then that is time well spent.
The “Shed Rule”: A project is only finished when the maker is tired of talking about it.
We have a member who has been “restoring” a small jewelry box for his granddaughter for nearly a year. Every week, he sands it a little more, shows it to someone new, and asks for advice on the finish. He isn’t slow; he’s just enjoying the process. At Newtown, we measure success not by the output of the workshop, but by the satisfaction of the man standing at the bench.
So, if you’ve got a project at home that you’re stuck on—or if you’re afraid to start because you might not finish—bring it down. We don’t care about the deadline; we just care about the company.