Sculptor Elizabeth King said it beautifully,

"Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions."

We chose to embrace a story about compliance and convenience, the search for status in a world constrained by scarcity.

We trust the system and the people we work for to give us what we need, as long as we're willing to continue down the path they've set out for us.

As John Gardner wrote, "The renewal of societies and organizations can go forward only if someone cares."

Askıda ekmek: there is bread on the hook. It's an ancient tradition in Turkey. When buying a loaf at the local bakery, you can choose to pay for an extra loaf and, after bagging your purchase, the owner will hang the second loaf on a hook on the wall.

If a person in need comes by, he or she can ask if there's anything on the hook. If so, the bread is shared, and the hunger is relieved. Perhaps as important, community is built.

When you choose to produce creative work, you're solving a problem. Not just for you, but for those who will encounter what you've made.

By putting yourself on the hook, you're performing a generous act. You are sharing insight and love and magic. And the more it spreads, the more it's worth to all of those who are lucky enough to experience your contribution.

Art is something we get to do for other people.

For the important work, the instructions are always insufficient. For the work we'd like to do, the reward comes from the fact that there is no guarantee, that the path isn't well lit, that we cannot possibly be sure it's going to work.

It's about throwing, not catching. Starting, not finishing. Improving, not being perfect.

We become what we do.

We live in an outcome-focused culture. A plumber doesn't get credit for effort; he gets credit if the faucet stops leaking. A corporation is rarely judged on the long-term impact of how it treats its employees; it is judged on its earnings per share.

Lost in this obsession with outcome is the truth that outcomes are the results of process. Good processes, repeated over time, lead to good outcomes more often than lazy processes do.

You might work for the world's worst boss.

The boss might be a jerk.

The boss might not recognize all the good work that you do.

The boss might do a lousy job of lining up better clients to keep you busy.

Or might not reward you for all the insight and care and passion you bring to the job.

In fact, the boss might bother you at home in the middle of the night for no good reason. Waking you up so that you can worry a little bit more about work. And mostly the boss might have the wrong expectation of what you're capable of creating.

You've probably guessed who I'm talking about.

The world's worst boss might very well be you.

Because the most important boss whom each of us answers to ourselves. And what it means to have a better boss is to have a boss who raises the bar for us but still gives us a break when we fail. What we need is a boss who is diligent and patient and insightful.