You, the craftsman

I'm reading “Kitchen Confidential” from Anthony Bourdain and he talks about how vitally important line cooks are in the kitchen. They repeatedly do the same thing over and over and over again, and get really damn good at it. He said they should be like a craftsman—people skilled in an art who practice that art with great care.

I recently I wrote about the importance of viewing your work through the lens of an artist which is about doing the work for its own sake. Craftsmanship, though, is about approaching your work in a more professional manner rather than just doing it when you feel like it. It's about discipline and a desire to constantly make it better. They ship the work and constantly create better versions of it, doing art every single day.

To me, craftsmanship has 4 parts:

• Dedication: It’s a commitment to the monotonous day-in day-out grind of honing your craft. Dedication breeds consistency and consistency creates trust in yourself.

• Hard work: Finding creative solutions to your challenges won't always be easy and will require lots of cycles.

• Mastery: This comes from really understanding the ins and outs of your craft—you become world class at it.

• Appreciation: A craftsman appreciates the art and craftsmanship of others and uses it as inspiration.

Be it salsa dancing, building software companies, making sushi, creating YouTube videos, building off grid homes, whatever your art me be, choose to be both the artist and the craftsman.