Squeaky Pans
Excellence is a tiny rebellion against adversity.
When I was in ninth grade I washed pots and pans at a family restaurant in a summer resort town. Not long into the summer, Bob the owner (who was also the chef, er... head cook) stopped by my massive sink.
"Say, what are you doing with those pans? I've noticed they squeak when I touch them instead of feeling all greasy."
I shrugged and told him I used soap and really hot water. I made sure they weren't slippery before I put them back in his stacks.
He said, "Well, keep up the good work. It feels like I'm working with new pans again, and it makes me smile."
I'll never forget that moment.
Excellence is something you practice by following good process. It can be taught and learned and repeated and scaled. It provides tangible purpose for the person doing the work and deep satisfaction to the person on the receiving end. Excellence is about demonstrating care. Knowing that your work makes someone else relax or smile is a powerful motivator and richly rewarding. It strengthens relationships and builds trust.
But let's not confuse excellence with perfection. Over-attention to an idealized destination can be unhealthy and is often driven by ego or unresolved needs for approval. But let's leave that part to the therapists. Reframing an extra measure of effort as an act of service, or as learning, is more constructive.
Excellence adds meaning and purpose to labor, making even dull routines more interesting and even fun. You can be excellent when you dig a hole or build a fence... work that takes serious physical effort and often hurts. But we can find satisfaction in sore muscles, blistered hands, and assorted cuts and bruises. They remind us what it took to make something better and we feel accomplished for doing it.
When we're sloppy (i.e. careless), avoid pain, or slip by with the bare minimum, we're left feeling empty or used. Excellence is a state we choose, even when we have little control over our circumstances, or when they are unappealing. Excellence is a tiny rebellion against adversity and therefore empowering.
Bob didn't give me a raise or a title. He just noticed my output and told me what it did for him. Thirty-some years later, I still wash pans in hot water until they squeak. There's nothing more powerful than setting your own standard choosing to achieve it.