adam godet of Capitol Hill on Life, Lessons & Legacy

adam godet shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

adam, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Literally, before I do anything, I make coffee. I set everything up before I go to bed. I walk down the stairs, immediately grind beans, and so on. I will do this even if I really need to use the bathroom. This is how important coffee is to me.

During my first cup of coffee I ease into the day. I might journal, look at a book, or check headlines.

The second cup of coffee really starts the day: I get my notebook and make/refine my list of things I plan to do.

I have a third cup of coffee as I get my stuff together and leave the house. The next step is either the gym, or a bike ride.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Adam Godet and I live in Washington, DC. I design and build custom hardwood furniture, teach woodworking classes and write about woodworking for Fine Woodworking magazine.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
My Parents. I grew up in a working class family: dad was a heavy equipment mechanic; mom worked in various factories. Mom was particularly proud of earning perfect attendance awards multiple years (she took planned vacation days but didn’t call out sick). Dad similarly retired with the maximum allowable banked sick leave. In addition to working demanding jobs they found energy to keep gardens (flower and vegetable), participate in the community (church, volunteer fire department, etc.). They knew how to get things done. Many people would argue that this may be an unhealthy approach to work, but those people have likely not had to fend for themselves the way my parents did. Together, I learned a lot about incredible work ethic.

Dad had a trade and that gave him a type of confidence that I can recognize. Matt Crawford talks about this in his book Shopcraft as Soulcraft. There is no pretending you fixed a broken vehicle. There were times he would be called out in the middle of the night, in a snowstorm, to fix a plow. A community depended on his ability to fix that machine. You can’t call the boss and blame someone, or send a flurry of emails to deflect it…you either fix it, or you don’t. That kind of black and white result…the inability to hide from the work. That’s something admirable, I think. It’s something that appeals to me about craft. Another thing he would say is: no one can take away your skills.

I can’t say that I embody all of those lessons. When I had a job with sick leave, I availed myself of it. And while loyal as an employee when I was employed, I eventually left to pursue my own business. This is a risk my parents would not have been comfortable doing on their own. However, their hard work enabled me to go to school, make good salaries, and then have the means to take that risk.

However, the dedication to my clients, students, and the craft is strong. And developing skills no one can take away, achieving real, tangible results every day…I hang on to that.

When did you last change your mind about something important?
I think something I’m still getting my head around is that we are not defined by our work or our accomplishments.

For a long time, I thought the kind of work I did and the accolades I received (or didn’t) really mattered. To be fair, I did not judge other people in the same way–only myself.

As I age and discover new aspects of life (death and aging are particularly poignant), it’s clear to me that work is not all that important. It’s a source of income, and that’s necessary. If you’re lucky, it’s a source of fulfillment. Generally though, there are far more important things.

Woodworking is a huge source of joy and fun for me. I used to aspire to recognition in the field. Now, I aspire to teach as many people as I can how to do it for themselves so they can experience the same therapeutic effects I enjoy. I also hope to keep getting better and better at it.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think Ai is probably over-promising on things it’ll never deliver. If it does deliver on what’s its promising, I don’t think many people will actually want it. The benefits for the few will far outweigh the costs.

Sure, AI is already doing some cool stuff and the enhanced web searches are really cool and helpful. But do we need more tech in our lives? At what cost? It appears as though there will be a huge financial and environmental cost…and the only beneficiaries will be the owners of the technology and those wealthy enough to benefit from it’s use. The promises about making you more efficient at your job, or whatever, are short-term at best. Many jobs will go away if Ai actually does everything it’s proponents are promising.

I just think of how when I have an issue I need to solve that can’t easily be answered in the FAQ section, I have to hope a person picks up the phone…inevitably, it’s an automated system with a bot. Is that really what we want? More of that? No thanks. I like humans.

A related topic is the use of CNCs and integrated technology in the shop. I don’t think smart people are getting that wrong necessarily–they are good business. For me, though, I hate having to pay attention to software updates how high tech hardware quickly goes obsolete. The basic hand and power tools of woodworking have largely remained unchanged for decades. I pay for people to do CNC work for me; I don’t want to do it myself.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. When do you feel most at peace?
Lost in a project without any distractions. Or in nature, especially near or on the water

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.godetfurniture.com
• Instagram: Godet_woodworking