The Art of Crafting
The dictionary defines Crafting as: “to make or manufacture (an object, objects, product, etc.) with skill and careful attention to detail.”
Crafting — in any occupation— is one of the most fundamental of differentiators between good Vs. bad, a job well done Vs. a job just done. But crafting also demonstrates a labor of love, a wanting to not just do something but to do it better than anyone else. It is what drives the craftsperson to spend countless hours dwelling on the details, the polishing, the working and reworking. The stuff that the average person doesn’t see an important, or meaningful. The craftsperson knows that while no one else may see the ever so subtle flaw or the tiniest imperfection, they will and so the flaws or imperfection must be resolved before he or she will be able to sleep at night. But the craftsperson is also the one who understands when to stop. When his/her work has reached that “good place” where the work is complete and anything additional would be gratuitous overkill, a loss of focus where the execution convolutes the idea.
The enemy of the craftsperson is those who chose by default to race to mediocrity. When the deadline becomes more important than the actual job, when “getting it done is good enough”, when it is described as “down and dirty.” The perpetrators are the ones who condone this mentality, who make excuses for why it is Okay to “Just do it this one time” or “Why it is not such a big deal” or even when they stoop to use a client or customers lack of understanding to defend “Just getting it done.”
Craftspeople are a unique bunch, a minority, a fellowship in an exclusive club that is not easy to get into. Craftspeople are the ones who risk being deemed “difficult” because they don’t settle. They will not allow the lowest common denominator to dictate what the standards for excellence are. They are the ones who hold the bar higher and make everyone come to them.
There are not very many craftspeople out there today and I think we need more. So next time you’re asked to “Bang this out”, “Just do what the client/customer wants”, or be asked to lower your bar will you say “No, because this is important, what I do matters” Will you be a craftsperson or will you be just another set of hands assembling meaningless widgets? At the end of the day will you decide that what you do is important or will you simply check off another box on your “To-Do-List”?