Seeing that someone genuinely WANTS the thing you’ve made.
You get an opportunity to fix something with your 3D printer. It always feels good to use it as a tool instead of a toy.
When you poke the thread through the eye of the needle on the very first try.
Googling your problem brings up the fix as the first result.
Reaching into an un-organized drawer full of sockets and pulling the right one out without looking.
Looking back at how much you’ve improved over time.
Going to sleep with a problem and waking up with a solution.
Turning your USB cable the correct way the first try on inserting.
When your battery dies and you find that you remembered to place your backup on the charger.
Completing an entire project without a single tangle in the sewing machine.
Tossing together a circuit that works exactly as you had planned.
Clipping the little tails off of freshly soldered components.
Having a problem in some code and finding a perfect comment when you investigate.
When talking with friends and co-workers you may notice a tendency to bring up things that bother you. Its normal, we generally share the negative sides of things and identify and empathize over our similar frustrations. It is a really easy thing to do, to start a conversation with “I really hate it when …”. Usually there’s no shortage of annoying items on our lists.
I thought it might be fun to share some of the little things that really feel good. These little things happen all the time around us and maybe we haven’t taken the time to even realize that we enjoy them. What part of making brings a smile to your face? What do you look forward to?
Here are 13 things that make my day, I’d love to hear yours.
11 thoughts on “13 Things That Make A Maker’s Day”
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I love the figuring out.
I love the look and feel of new materials destined for a project.
I love seeing my finished project on a cleaned up workbench. That says “You’re done” like nothing else.
1. Being so excited about making a project that I can hardly wait to wake up the next morning to start working on it.
2. Having some free time to experiment with ideas that I’m curious about.
3. Making something to give as a gift.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell when a project is “finished”, so I love the feeling of doing a writeup on the project and posting it online. It gives a feeling of completion.
I love when I have everything I need to make a project without having to go out and buy anything else.
When I manage to get a NASA type perfect solder.
Having the right tools for the job.
Write your name on the things that you made.
1) When I’m asked to add a new feature to an application, and I find I actually made it easy for myself on hour 36 of the last 48-hour grind getting the last version out, so I can do it in 15 minutes and look like a programming god :-) Downside, I’m expected to do it NEXT time too :-)
2) Finding the weird half-remembered salvaged part that will work perfectly in my current project today, when I need it, instead of a month from now and thinking “Ooh ! Here it is! Now why did I want to remember this thing?”
3) When the thing you just made looks just like it originally did in your head.
Great list. Top two mentioned for me were people genuinely enjoying your creations and threading a needle on the first try. I would want to add the rare completion of a sewing project with a single loop left on the bobbin (without need a refill at all!)
Machining something on the mill without drilling a hole in the wrong spot, breaking a tool, or drawing blood.
I love a clear bench. One loves most what one can never attain.
Building something in the LTSpice simulator, then building it in the real world, and then seeing identical results on the LTSpice scope and on my Rigol ‘scope. http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com