I borrowed a book from the local library titled: “Design since 1945.” In it I was struck by a page showcasing a chair made out of steel springs. Yes, the seating area was fashioned out of steel springs as you might find if you stripped the cushioning off of a bed. “How can that be comfortable?” you might ask. And the answer is it wasn’t. The chair didn’t gain popularity. However, what amazed me about the writeup next to the item was that the inventor kept working on his product, refining it and changing it. Eventually advances in plastic fabrication progressed to the place where the bouncy steel structure could be coated creating a comfortable, resilient seat and back for the chair.

A mentor of sorts once told me “I’ve never taken a risk that didn’t benefit me in some way.” I’ve thought about that a lot over the years, and it has made me realize that if you are humble and willing to learn, there is no useless project. Perhaps the project is a stepping stone, or a metal spring chair, or one of Thomas Edison’s 10,000 ways it will not work, but it offers something to you. How much you take from it is up to you.