What does it mean to approach work as a craft? This is a question that flows from the question about whether any kind of work can be experienced as a craft.
Four things make work a craft.
- It is a craft when we think we can get better at it.
- It is a craft when the details of process and product matter.
- It is a craft when it takes mindfulness to make it happen.
- It is a craft when the standards we have for ourselves are higher than others, whatever their relationship to our work and its outcomes.
Work has extrinsic meaning when it's essentially done for the gain of reward and prevention of undesired costs. Work has intrinsic meaning when we make it a craft. Any work, however dramatic or humble.