I used to frame pictures in a former life. It’s a very delicate and meticulous craft. While it’s not the same as a cabinet maker, I can tell you some insights r

I used to frame pictures in a former life. It’s a very delicate and meticulous craft. While it’s not the same as a cabinet maker, I can tell you some insights related to something with tangible, finished objects. There are days when you do negative work in framing. The most obvious is when you damage artwork. The less obvious is when you mismeasure something. That one act can destroy not just work time, but also calendar time since you may need to wait a week to get replacment materials. Same problem if you mar the product something very easy to do with delicate finishes. And then there’s injuries, cutting oneself can not only end the day, but may also end up with lifelong reduction in capabilities. Oh, and blood can ruin material. So, it’s very important to have a good frame of mind when doing certain kinds of physical tasks. There were some days I worked, where the first sign I was mentally impaired I backed off and stopped making things. Those days you do the low risk things like cleaning and taking stock. But at some point you’ve done all the things of value and working more hours when you can’t do the thing that pays the bills doesn’t make sense. I can tell you from personal experience that you can easily hit a wall long before 40 hours and the odds of negative work go up quickly when tired or overworked. Now, if your cabinetmaker is essentially a factory worker, then some of my advice is not as applicable, you can build processes and tooling to minimize mistakes and also to help preserve mental energy, which makes it much easier to work longer hours. But never underestimate the cost of stupid, and stupid goes up quickly as hours worked increases.