Tag: good work

Be a Laborer #3

Jennifred Jones

Time! I don’t have time! I don’t have enough time! Hurry up! Time is of the essence! Stop wasting time! You can’t reclaim your time! This project is taking too much time!!!

I cannot do a good job, it will take too much time…

Ever heard/said these words?

I have. Over and over and over and over from others and in my own mind. What is the big RUSH? We need time. Time was made for us. It will not run out. We are not living against a timer set to go off if we don’t ‘finish in time’.

Good work takes time. It takes time to think, to plan, to do a task and to do it well.

Living against the time machine causes us to cut corners, do inferior work, use inferior tools, make inferior product, treat people less importantly, treat ourselves less valuably and on and on and on…

Practically every job listing states…’fast paced environment’! Why even say that? How about, ‘quality workmanship required here’?

To do your work well, to come up with good ideas, to think of ways for improvement, it is going to take time! We have got to stop feeling guilty for taking time and using it in a good way. We all work at different paces; however the emphasis needs to be on good, quality workmanship. It’s not wrong to do something, not like it and do it again…better! That is not wasting time!

Another saying…’a job worth doing is worth doing well’. and it takes time to do it well.

Don’t regret the time it takes for your good work. Concentrate on the work and your effort. Time will take care of itself!

  • What time restraints are you putting needlessly on  yourself?
  • What tasks do you need to slow down to thoroughly complete?
  • What condemning thoughts need to be dismissed in relation to your time?

I am asking myself these same questions.

Let’s labor ahead together to do good work, taking all the time needed and feel good about the product we are producing.

Be a Laborer #1

Jennifred Jones

There’s nothing worse than having something expected to work well, not work! But there’s something wonderful about having something work extremely well.

Who made it work and how did it happen?

  • Somebody had to study the product…
  • Somebody had to learn the product…
  • Somebody had to work the product…
  • Somebody had to develop the product.

Who is the somebody and what is the product? The somebody is you, a laborer doing your work; the product is the outcome of what you do.

Anything made well, that works well had to go through the above steps.

It could be the bike you ride every day to work, the waffle iron for breakfast, the stroller for the kids; the bridge you cross, the street layout of your town, the building you work in, the computer programming you use.

How you use and how you design and work to improve the products in your daily life will determine the ease and enjoyment of these products for you and others.

It takes a lot of good thought and good manual labor to create a good product. We don’t want to waste time and resources making an inferior product that may add a few quick dollars to our pockets and then no longer serves the consumer, or you, well.

There is a satisfaction that only comes from time invested in making/building a good product. You are part of the process, either as designer or maker, but you are laboring to make something worthwhile; something you’re not ashamed to attach your name to, something you can explain to others and be proud of, it works well, it serves its purpose and it looks good!

Be a good laborer, have a good product.                                                                                          Be in an atmosphere where you can give it your all, and then give it!