At the beginning of last year, I made a New Year’s resolution: to sketch more. I’ve always found that I’m reasonably good at visualizing my ideas, though I wouldn’t consider myself particularly proficient at sketching.

By mid-2024, I had made some progress, but it fell far short of my ambitions. I discussed this at length with my wife Karina, and she suggested I start my day with sketching. That’s when I decided to take a more structured approach. I bought a light table and committed to sketching every single day.

Now, I start my mornings with a 90-minute design and sketching session. I do this before checking emails, connecting with my team, or scrolling through social media. This habit has fundamentally changed my life. Beginning the day with creative work has a ripple effect, setting a tone of focus and organization for the rest of the day.

Around the same time that I began this daily routine, I started working on the TOKO project. This newfound discipline allowed me to dedicate significantly more time to the design process than I ever had before. In fact, I spent more time working on the TOKO than on any other design in my 25+ years as a knifemaker. I’ve documented this journey in a new video on my channel, where I share how I believe the TOKO is my best work to date. I genuinely feel that I couldn’t have done a better job on it.

Do I feel motivated every single morning to sit down at my drawing table? Absolutely not. But I’ve learned to push through those moments of resistance, and I always end up making progress—sometimes small, sometimes significant. What this experience has taught me is that persistence is the key to growth and success.

Sticking to it is the way forward.

If you have not seen the full 5 episode documentary on making the TOKO you can watch it here: