The Certainty of Uncertainty

Perseverance is everything, especially in the face of adversity. The book above is one of 34 we plan to print that I have written over the past twenty years. It's taken me 20 years to get to this dream point but all the machines for printing and publishing are now in place.

I think the greatest hindrance to progress in our lives is the fear of uncertainty, the fear of failure, but the fear of being seen to fail is the greatest hindrance of all. People fall in public and look to see who's laughing. They fall and laugh despite the pain and stand to show others around that they are resilient, tough and just fine when they are not. Such is the pressure to look good in the face of our peers. Worse than this is not looking good within our families. A man came to a class because he aspired to be a woodworker. He made things and took them home. His wife said, "You paid £300 for a week's class and you only made a box, a wall shelf and a table?"

"Well, no!" he said. I learned how to sharpen and use the tools, about layout and much more. I loved it!"

Two years later I met him again and he said his wife didn't want hand made stuff in the house. He gave up woodworking and sold off his tools.

Another man from a class took home a spoon and a spatula. They were scarred and split. It was a one day class on shaping and he had more bandaids on his hands than skin. He wrote me how much his wife loved what he made for her and that she used them every day for cooking. He signed up for the next six day class and you know what? At the end of the class he had but one bandaid on and he took home the same three projects as gifts for his family. he has now made many other projects including my Craftsman-style rocking chair nd my Brazos Rocking Chair!