Life At Your Finger Tips

Life at your finger tips

Yesterday I started working on digitizing some 8mm films that I’ve had sitting in a box for years. Why did I wait so long you might ask? I didn’t have the proper tools to do the job. Sure, I could have digitized them with a projector and a digital camera. But I tried that once upon a time and I wasn’t happy with the results. The digital camera couldn’t capture the nuances of the film as it changed.

Why did I start digitizing film this week? My friend got in a dedicated 8mm film scanner in his supply order. I now have access to the right tools. Sometimes in life you have to make a choice. Do you press forward and work with what you have? Or do you put your project on the back burner and wait for the proper tools to be at your disposal. I can’t answer that for you.

Sometimes you have to make due with the tools you have at your disposal. I’ve done many projects with makeshift tools that I’ve found clever workarounds for. Sometimes my projects come out great. Other times my projects where put straight into the discard pile. Occasionally I’ve pulled a project out of the discard pile after I’ve gotten the proper tool. And the project turned into a big success.

Very rarely when starting a new project have I ever had everything I needed at my fingertips. I’ve made do with the things I have. I’ve talked to friends who have tools that I could barrow. Harbor freight has been a good friend over the years with their inexpensive tools.

Tools aren’t always physical. Sometimes the tool we’re lacking is the proper information. Sometimes your ideas out run your skills. This happens to me all the time. I use to get frustrated. I’d have headaches and get stressed out because I couldn’t figure out how to do something. This was always fruitless for me. these days I’m not afraid to sit projects aside for years and revisited when I had the proper information. Sometimes it amazes me how simple some of my projects actually were after learning what I needed to know.

If life was always at our finger tips what good would come of it? We grow though trial and error not success. If you succeed at everything you do, then what is there to learn? Give it a try and welcome failure! I’ve learned more though failing then I ever would have succeeding. But don’t beat yourself up when you don’t have the proper tools to succeed.

I’ve known people who become angry at themselves when their not immediately good. That’s ridiculous. no one paints a masterpiece the first time they try painting. Skill comes after multiple failures. Sure there are those people out there that have natural talent. And that should be nurtured so they can go from good to great! But for the rest of us, it’s all about practice and time.

Get out there and pick a project! Give it a try and see if it’s something you have the ability to do. Is it a project you’re going to have to side line until you have the proper tools and skills to accomplish it?

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