It was Sunday and I was in nowhere land, 30 miles north of Venice, Italy. I walked towards the only restaurant around, in a fog that wouldn't shame a Hollywood studio filming a Freddie Krueger nightmare. I had a headache and was tired and wanted it to end.
While working on a presentation for the following day, I found – in an old folder on my computer – a summary of a book by Sir Ken Robinson. It's that guy from the most popular TED of all times. His book is called The Element. Three years ago I read it and summarized the whole thing but I totally forgot I did. I do these things sometimes – summarizing books, but I'm not sure why – I never remember to go back and read it.
In his book Robinson claims that Schools hurt our believe we are creative. In order to love what you do and do what you love you rather combine your passion with what you're good at. And you better find that creativity within you again. It's a great book.
Back to the Foggy Sunday
I finally made it to the restaurant and ordered an espresso. The barista looked at me, smiled and said: "How many shots?"
I told him I wanted two shots of espresso.
He made it for me but didn't pour it into a cup. He simply handed me two tiny glasses with espresso. "Drink it," he said.
I did.
And he didn't give a fuck if I did. He didn't wait for approval. He didn't ask if it was good. He didn't even care if I liked the way he served it.
He just gave me the espresso. The best espresso I ever had.
Here's the thing – I realized I usually expect people to care if I like what they're giving me. If it's a service or a product, I anticipate them waiting for my reaction. Or asking how it is.
But this barista didn't care.
And paradoxically, I liked that better than anything else.
He had enough confidence in his espresso to not give a fuck.
That's something.
And that's the reason I wrote this down.
Because most of us in our professions – whether we run a business or create content or do anything else – we give WAY TOO MUCH of a fuck about whether people like what we do.
And the people who succeed, the people who actually create something remarkable, are usually the ones that don't give a fuck. They care about the quality. Not about the approval.
I learned that from a barista who probably never read Robinson's book.
Although, I bet he knew The Element.
He lived it.