Make the Thing You Wish Existed

Most of us spend far more time consuming than creating.

When we want something, we look for someone who has already made it. We search, compare, and buy. Often, that is the sensible choice.

Sometimes, though, we should make the thing ourselves.

Consumption is the easy answer

Buying is fast. Someone else has already done the work, learned the skill, made the mistakes, and turned the result into something we can use.

I do not want to make everything I use, and I doubt anyone else does either. Other people have skills I do not have, and buying something well made can save an enormous amount of time.

Searching and buying have become such natural responses that we can forget another option.

We can make the thing.

Making will rarely be the fastest path. The result may cost more than something we could buy. The first attempt may not be as polished as the work of someone with years of experience. We may have to learn unfamiliar tools, make mistakes, start over, and spend far longer than we expected.

That does not make it the wrong choice.

Efficiency is not the only reason to do something.

You get more than the thing

When you buy something, you end up with the thing you wanted. When you make it, you can end up with much more: the thing, a new skill, and the satisfaction of knowing you created it yourself.

If you build a bookshelf, you gain a bookshelf and some experience with woodworking. If you paint a picture, you gain the picture and a better understanding of color, composition, and your own taste. If you grow a garden, you may get tomatoes, but you also learn about soil, weather, patience, and what will survive in your yard. If you write a program, you get a useful tool and a better understanding of how software works.

The result is only part of what you made. You also made yourself a little more capable.

You do not need the skill yet

Looking at something we wish we could make can lead us to conclude that we are not the kind of person who makes it. We tell ourselves: I am not an artist. I am not a woodworker. I do not know how to do that.

Those statements may describe where we are today. They do not have to describe where we remain.

You do not need to have the skill before you begin. Beginning is how you gain it.

It will take longer when you are learning as you go. You will make choices that an experienced person would avoid. Your first result may be uneven, awkward, or nothing like what you pictured.

Make it anyway.

The goal of a first attempt is not to prove that you already know how to do it. Making something gives you a reason to learn. Instead of studying a skill in the abstract, you have a real question in front of you: how do I make this next part work?

By the end, you may have the thing you wanted. You will also have a skill you did not have when you started.

Bring something new into the world

Making does not have to mean inventing something nobody has imagined before. People have painted landscapes, built tables, planted gardens, written stories, cooked meals, and created software before. The fact that something already exists does not mean your version has no reason to exist.

You bring your own needs, judgment, constraints, and care to the work. What you make may be simpler or more personal. It may combine ideas in a way that works better for you. It may exist only because making it sounded enjoyable.

That is enough.

You do not need an audience, a customer, or a plan to make money from it. You do not need to persuade anyone else that the thing should exist. It can begin with a much smaller thought: I would like this, and I want to see if I can make it.

Maybe other people will want it too. You can share it, sell it, give it away, or teach someone else what you learned. Those possibilities can be wonderful, but they do not have to justify the work.

Creating something is already an addition to the world, even when that addition remains small.

Make yourself proud

Buying something new can feel good. The anticipation, the package, and the first few days with it all create a little burst of pleasure. That feeling fades quickly.

The satisfaction of making something lasts longer.

You remember the problems you solved, the mistakes you recovered from, and the moment the pieces finally worked together. You can look at the finished result and know that it exists because you decided to do the work.

Nobody may pay you, praise you, or even notice what you made. The only reward may be the satisfaction of a job well done.

That is not a small reward.

Make a piece of art. Build a table. Plant a garden. Write a story. Cook something you have never tried before. Create a tool that solves your particular problem. Choose a skill you have or one you wish you had, and give yourself a reason to practice it.

Make the thing because you want it to exist. Make it carefully. Make it as well as you can.

Make something that makes you proud.

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