How to do it wrong

So I was asked a question last night. How do I cut a 45 degree angle consistently. My reply was how do you cut a steep angle? How do you cut a shallow angle?

I believe that when you aim to do produce a certain result all the time, you do it mindlessly. You forget how to do it. You just aim to do it again and again. To learn how to do a specific thing, let's say to cut a 45. Ask yourself, can you on purpose, cut a steep angle, or cut a shallow angle? What do you have to do with your arms, and blade angle to achieve the desired results? Once you realize that, I don't think achieving 45 degrees will be difficult, because you yourself understands how instead of someone correcting you.

Understanding how to control your body and technique to get the desired effect is more important than just automatically cutting a 45. This is the difference between knowing how to cut, and knowing HOW to cut.