Sequoia Design System and codebase
Creating a future proof design system for Oracle.com
Doing it yourself
The real value of doing it yourself
When I was growing up I thought my dad could do anything. Whether it was wrenching on our family Suburban, doing home improvements, or taking my yearbook photos, I was never surprised to find him taking on a task usually reserved for a professional. It was inspiring and daunting at the same time. I wondered when in my life I was supposed to learn all these skills.
I was so concentrated on when I should learn these skills that I never thought about why I should learn them.
As a kid I just thought, “Dad is doing this to save money.” The thought of him actually enjoying the work never crossed my mind.
I eventually learned to do all the things my dad would do growing up. I work on cars, I have a solid foundation of carpentry skills, I attempted to take my own passport photos. For the most part, I learned to do all these things because they saved me money. Eventually this changed. Maybe it was the influx of money from starting a career or finding myself with too much free time, but I started to pick up more and more hobbies.
After moving to Oakland I found myself riding my bike more than I had ever before. The weather was great and everywhere I went was relatively flat. After getting tired of flat tires, and wishing that I could go on some of the local mountain bike trails, I chose to build a gravel bike piece by piece. Building bikes wasn’t my hobby. Building a bike was an activity that supported my hobby. While I did save a considerable amount of money by building it myself, it wasn’t why I did it. I wanted to do it.
It’s projects like these that teach you the real values of doing it yourself.
I enjoyed learning to do it
There is something magical about learning a practical skill. You start off knowing nothing. Then you watch a video or read an article while trying to follow along. Eventually you figure it out and complete the task. Just like that you go from novice to expert.
The Ikea effect
People place more value on something they assemble themselves than something they bought off the shelf. Just think about how you feel about that expedit bookshelf sitting in your living room. I know I feel way more connected to the bike I built than I do to my old road bike.
It gives you pride
While this may be a result of the first two reasons it deserves its own slot in the line up. Whenever I look at my bike I feel good. It’s that simple.
It gives you confidence
While some people can be satisfied by pride alone, most of us could use a little bit of praise from time to time. Getting a compliment on something you have repaired, maintained, or made, builds your confidence up. It makes you think you can do more, it encourages you to try something even harder and to learn one more thing you didn’t know before. It’s a never ending loop of good vibes.
You learn something new
Now this may seem like an obvious side effect from learning to do something you didn’t previously know. It’s what you can do with that knowledge that really matters. How often do you take your car to the shop and not recognize a single word on your invoice? You may never do that repair again but next time someone tries to charge you for some ridiculous part that sounds like a portmanteau of different machines on an industrial revolution assembly line, you’ll know better.
It’s been many years since I felt inspired and daunted by the skills my dad possessed but I finally have an answer for my younger self. If you focus on when you’ll learn it may feel daunting, but if you learn the value in why you do it in the first place, you’ll feel inspired.
Check out my other projects
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