Better Sushi
I listened to the Founders podcast on Jiro Ono, the eponymous central figure in the biopic Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and I loved every second.
The TL;DR is the guy has been making sushi pretty much every day since he was 7 years old, and he recently turned 100. He has absolutely insane standards on every single element of sushi making, and has been continuously improving his craft every day for his entire life.
"I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit"
He famously serves customers out of a ramshackle little restaurant (Sukiyabashi Jiro) in a Tokyo subway station, which became one of the most esteemed restaurants in the world earning three Michelin stars and serving, amongst others, Barack Obama.
Image by White House/Pete Souza via BBC
Central to Jiro’s aura and celebrity is his epitomisation of the Japanese concept of shokunin - the relentless, lifelong pursuit of perfection in one's craft. It’s a blend of ultimate commitment to the mastery of a technical skill, a drive for simplicity and elegance, and a purposeful and selfless commitment to the profession itself.
I love the principles. One of the most important things to me personally is professional competence. I want to be good at what I do. I’m not interested in skating through by the skin of my teeth doing the bare minimum simply in pursuit of a paycheque. I want to contribute something of quality. To bring some unique insight or expertise. Ultimately, to matter in some way - even if small.
I don’t know for sure why it matters so much to me, but I do have hypotheses. I grew up in a household of firefighters (granddad, dad and both brothers). In the context of firefighting, professionalism doesn’t just matter for you as an individual and for your career - it can literally be the difference between life and death for other people. You don't get a second chance. You must know what you are doing, and do it well.
Jiro takes it 100x further to make it a fundamental lifelong obsession, and I think I tend more towards that extreme end too. Like him, I want to make the sushi taste better every day.