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This episode discusses how creating physical objects in the world—from woodworking to 3D printing—builds a problem-solving capacity that translates across all domains of life.
High-Value Quotables
[00:12] "One of the most profound ways to really grow and develop as a person... is to make something... literally physical objects in the world."
[01:51] "Because you are put in this situation to create little problems that you then have to figure out how to solve... and they are in a very narrow context window."
[03:46] "The problem-solving process is its own form of discovery."
[05:34] "This problem-solving capacity, when you start making stuff on a regular basis, increases, becomes cross-functional and enhances your ability to solve problems that you didn't create."
The Core Concept: Solving Problems in Context
Making something—whether it’s a recipe or a 3D-printed object—creates a series of "micro-problems" that must be solved within specific design constraints. This process is a form of active discovery that builds "agility" and "capacity," teaching you how to iterate through solutions until you find the right answer.
Key Takeaways:
- Low Risk, High Reward: The risk of making something is low (bad taste, ugly look), but the upside is the potential for a life-changing peak experience.
- Peak Experiences: Using a tool like a 3D printer to watch an object you designed materialize can be a "profound" moment of discovery.
- Solution Maturation: Through making, you learn to start with the "right answer" next time, rather than repeating the same trial-and-error process.
- Cross-Functional Skills: The logic you use to fix a "too spicy" dish can unexpectedly translate to a "fishing solution" or a problem that life tosses at you.
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- Tim Dedman
- Jorge
Creators and Guests
What is A Mason's Work?
In this show we discuss the practical applications of masonic symbolism and how the working tools can be used to better yourself, your family, your lodge, and your community. We help good freemasons become better men through honest self development. We talk quite a bit about mental health and men's issues related to emotional and intellectual growth as well.
[00:00] One of the most profound ways to really grow and develop as a person, and this sounds probably
[00:08] crazy to some of you, is to make something.
[00:12] When I say make something, I mean literally physical objects in the world.
[00:16] Anything from woodworking craft to paper cards to 3D printing to making a recipe or a food
[00:27] that you're not familiar with.
[00:28] In the process of creating things, and we talked yesterday a little bit about just pursuing
[00:34] discomfort, making things has a relatively low risk threshold.
[00:39] The worst you're going to get is something that looks awful or tastes bad or whatever.
[00:45] And so the risk reward kind of thing is low.
[00:49] The reward you get on the upside of making something you've never made before, or trying
[00:55] to make something you've never made before, let's put it that way, is you may not have
[01:01] the transcendent moment.
[01:03] You may not find at the other side of this the full, like deeper self-expression that you're
[01:11] going to get from taking on bigger risks.
[01:12] But in the grand scheme of things, making something could put your feet on the path to those kinds
[01:20] of experiences.
[01:21] So what do you get in the process of making stuff?
[01:25] Particularly stuff like food where improvisation is good, or a kind of an overall design but
[01:34] without specific schematics, where you have the guidelines but not the exact measurements.
[01:41] What you do when you make stuff is you essentially create a series of problems, which again sounds
[01:49] awful, but it's really quite amazing.
[01:51] Because you are put in this situation to create little problems that you then have to figure out
[01:59] how to solve.
[02:00] And they are in a very narrow context window, meaning the problems that you're creating,
[02:06] we'll use cooking again because it's easier, this food is too spicy, or too soft, or too hard,
[02:13] or too sweet, or too salty.
[02:16] Any of those kinds of problems that you create have to be solved in the context of the build,
[02:24] right?
[02:24] You're not going to solve the too sweet problem of a pastry by adding more protein, for example.
[02:33] I mean, you might, but you get the idea, right?
[02:36] It's not going to be...
[02:38] You have to solve the problem kind of in its own context.
[02:41] Same thing with woodworking.
[02:43] You're not...
[02:44] All the memes are going through my head right now of all the things, the places where people
[02:48] have replaced wood with ramen.
[02:49] But in the context of woodworking, you're not really going to solve problems too far
[02:56] sort of out of scope of the way the problem was created.
[03:01] And in that way, you're going to cultivate, again, a little bit of a problem-solving capacity
[03:07] by virtue of the problems you create in the creation process, right?
[03:12] You're going to try to create this thing.
[03:15] You're going to make these little problems come up that you need to solve, and you can
[03:19] only solve them in those design constraints.
[03:23] And what you'll learn a couple things in that process, apart from whether or not you can solve
[03:29] those problems or you have the things you need or the resources or toolkit available to you,
[03:33] is you're going to also learn that there are some solutions to problems that you never would
[03:42] have considered to start with.
[03:46] That the problem-solving process is its own form of discovery.
[03:52] That you will continue to mature and evolve through a solution until you get to one that's
[03:59] kind of the right answer, for lack of a better way to say it.
[04:02] And then you'll start with that right answer next time.
[04:06] You won't iterate, be as likely to iterate through a bunch of solutions.
[04:11] You'll just start with the thing that worked last time.
[04:14] And as you, again, continue to do these explorations, this process of making things, you're going to
[04:20] continue to develop your own set of like, oh, yeah, this is the best way to solve this,
[04:25] or this is the best solution for this.
[04:27] Oh, this is too creamy.
[04:29] Then I need to add this or that or the other thing.
[04:31] You're going to build a capacity as you create stuff that gives you more agility in the long
[04:41] term, more capacity in the long term to then better solve problems.
[04:46] And that problem-solving capacity for as odd as it sounds will also translate across domains.
[04:52] So your ability to, for example, solve a problem in cooking may not seem like it translates to a
[05:00] problem, say, fishing or something else.
[05:03] But you'll note in the design, the solution design of cooking, for example, that you might
[05:10] add a new ingredient, but it takes a little bit of time for that ingredient to take effect
[05:14] to really, you know, blend into the dish.
[05:17] You may then take that.
[05:19] Well, I've just tried this solution.
[05:21] Maybe I should give it more time when I'm out fishing.
[05:24] Maybe it takes a little bit of time to blend into the fishing solution, whatever that might
[05:29] be.
[05:29] You're going to find that this problem-solving capacity, when you start making stuff on a
[05:35] regular basis, increases, becomes cross-functional and enhances your ability to solve problems
[05:41] that you didn't create.
[05:42] The stuff that life kind of tosses at you and you're like, congratulations, now you've got
[05:46] to deal with this.
[05:47] Well, now you've got a good approach that you learned from cooking or you learned from
[05:51] woodworking or you learned from paper craft or any of the kinds of creation that you've
[05:56] taken on that you can then take that problem-solving approach, bring it to the novel solution,
[06:02] you know, bring it to the novel situation you're experiencing and get better outcomes as a result.
[06:06] Have a good one.
[06:07] I don't know.
[06:07] Alright.
[06:07] Thank you.
[06:15] Mr.
[06:18] Thanks, Mr.
[06:22] I'll let you in.
[06:27] O