“Good” is a subjective qualifier, but most people know when the work they produce is good or mediocre. Good work is doing one’s best. Mediocre is doing just enough to get by. Good work may receive criticism and need corrections. Mediocre work has to be completely redone.
Good work is careful work, which is not to say it’s safe work. It means that the writer, artist, or other laborer gives care to the work being done. Paint or charcoal dust may cover the floor and the worker, but the piece of paper only evidences love and attention to detail.
Good work tends to be satisfying, meaningful work. It doesn’t mean the work is particularly fun or glamorous; satisfaction and meaning come from doing a good job, even if it’s the job of changing light bulbs or taking out the trash.
Good work is quiet work, too. It requires no fanfare. The person responsible for the work doesn’t stand atop a chair or table and proclaim the work she has done. No, she is content in the work itself. It doesn’t need to be defended. It is good work. It defends itself.
Good work produces a certainty about the quality of the work itself. An artist can spend hours painting a canvas only to reach the conclusion that the work is shabby. One artist would refuse to start the work over; the other applies gesso and begins again. One is content with hours put in on the work. The other is after something else entirely.
That something else, of course, is good work. It shines no matter how many times it’s assailed or covered up. Good work, because it only cares about being good, simply stands out.
Image: MTSOfan (Creative Commons)
[…] thing Kurt Vonnegut accuses it of being. She also takes a deeper dive into what constitutes “good work” and riffs on Neil Gaiman’s ideas about how to get more of […]