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Work as Craft
Understanding the real value of what we do.
In her short reflection on the Psychology of craft, writer Mandy Brown asks, “What does it mean to see our work as craft rather than as growth?”
Her question is a rejection of the scaling mindset, which says that we must always expand, always increase profit.
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I believe in honing our craft. That we should find out what we love to do and relentlessly pursue its excellence. Not to become an expert, or to even get good at doing it, but to be able to arrange our lives around what brings us joy and fulfilment. And by doing that, we offer something greater to those who are drawn to and inspired by that arrangement.
Which is to say, while honing our craft pleases us, that’s not why we do it. Often it’s what we can’t help doing. We’d be doing it anyway. Perhaps even for free.
What is craft?
I’ve been thinking about what craft means to me. It’s never just one thing.
For actor, author and woodworker Nick Offerman, craft is “the skill developed, applied, and made manifest through practice and discipline in the fabrication of a work of art. Could be a chair, a lasagna, a painting, a symphony, or a…
