Shoddy workmanship is theft, and at the moment a worker decides that he is finished with what he knows is a shoddy job, he compounds the theft with a lie. The secret to making work go away quickly\u00a0is to do it right, and for a subtle reason. If time or another resource is a constraint, then the best job possible within the constraints is the right way, even if there are weak areas. To measure what is right, compare against what is possible, not what is perfect.
\nThe subtlety is that work drags on for people because they wish to forestall the moment they must tell a lie about their theft. \u00a0Rather than slow work being an avoidance of free time, which of course makes no sense, it is an avoidance of a guilt cycle.\u00a0 Nobody wakes up in the morning and wonders how they can screw up today. Everybody wants to do a good job, but unrealistically high expectations (or requirements from above, before they are internalized) do not motivate a worker–unrealistic expectations actively demotivate a worker by poisoning the promise of free time with a good conscience. It makes it so that the worker can have\u00a0either some time off\u00a0or\u00a0a sense of satisfaction in a job well done\u00a0at best, but not both, and probably neither.<\/p>\n
Shoddy workmanship is theft, and at the moment a worker decides that he is finished with what he knows is a shoddy job, he compounds the theft with a lie. The secret to making work go away quickly\u00a0is to do it right, and for a subtle reason. If time or another resource is a constraint, then the best job possible within the constraints is the right way, even if there are weak areas. To measure what is right, compare against what is possible, not what is perfect.
The subtlety is that work drags on for people because they wish to forestall the moment they must tell a lie about their theft. \u00a0Rather than slow work being an avoidance of free time, which of course makes no sense, … Continue reading