I wasn’t all too sure how to respond to this particular reading. It seems all well and good to justify a life attitude by using Steve Martin and some blues guitarist as exemplars.  Newport was even kind enough to add a rebuttal section to potential criticism. These rebuttals employed the exact examples rather than taking the chance to show how adopting such an attitude can be beneficial to the everyday worker. Newport probably did exactly that in later chapters that I am not privy to (If he did ignore me).

Surely, a middle ground must be found between a utopian craftsman mindset and ensuring you’re not being exploited as a worker. For instance, I work in (the sometimes soul destroying world of) retail to support myself. Sometimes, I will lean heavily on the craftsmen mindset, ensuring customers are aided in achieving their goals. I’m committed to making sure that I’m exemplifying the business’s values but undercurrent to this I’m making money. Not only that, I’m growing my skills as a communicator and professional to some extent. This isn’t to say that I don’t value the relationships I build with customers and my colleagues but I have multiple objectives. Alongside my goal for profit, I’m also eager to gain knowledge and to work effectively within a collaborative environment.

I think it would be impossible to delineate my goals and objectives for my part time work. At any one moment it could lean toward the Craftsman mindset,  dependent upon how I feel and who I am working with. Ultimately, I can see the true value of such an approach, particularly when beginning work within the media industry; looking to either ascend hierarchies or to build a business or body of work.