I want to ask you a question, one that was raised during my second year of undergrad studies:
How do you define ‘good quality’?
Many would pair ‘good quality’ with ‘expensive’, while others would associate ‘good quality’ with ‘made in foreign country’. Some people would say that good quality is defined by the physical properties of a product or service – color, texture, reflectiveness, transparency, rapidity, or efficiency. Others, when talking about food for example, consider that good quality food provides your body with all the nutrients it needs. Similarly, a good quality product or service provides you with whatever you expect from it.
The last possible definition for good quality is that ‘it depends’.
And that, my friends, is how we defined good quality in class. It depends.
It depends on what the customer wants and what the customer needs. Whether the product or service is temporarily trendy or an utmost vital element. It depends on the budget and how much the customer is willing to go over that budget. It depends on whether the item is a gift and it depends on whom we are giving it as a gift. It depends on whether it is made by a renown foreign company or by a craftsperson from your neighborhood.
Good quality depends.
Whatever we base our understanding and perception of good quality on, it is all traced back to the standards we set for ourselves and for the products we consume or services we request. Consequently, a good quality product meets your standards.
We all have standards and our lives are governed by them. The standards we have are related to the work we perform or the work we present, to our academic performance, to the people we choose to hang out with, and how we choose to treat them.
And I feel like the standards we have are mainly branched from two sources: the households we were raised in and the circle in which we surround ourselves.
If you were raised in a home that was incredibly nurturing, one where your parents made sure everything you needed and desired (emotionally and materialistically) was provided to you, and one that taught you all the essential values of life,
If you were brought up in a household where you had the complete freedom to do whatever you want,
Or if you were raised in a chaotic home,
You will upon that decide what kind of home you want to offer your children, and that decision will be your standard—if you desire to start a family.
If you were always an elite at school, preschool all the way to senior year, someone who never obtained a general average below an 85%, then this is the standard you have set for yourself to maintain when you graduate and go into college. On the other hand, if you were always a good student but not necessarily an elite, then your grade standard would differ. So, unlike that kid who’s always first in class, your satisfaction would be met with whatever average above 75% you get. Moreover, you have the students whose standard for academics is to just pass because they have higher standards for other aspects of their lives—it’s like that kid who always excelled in PE: you’d see them trying to pass all other subjects but would give their all to keep that PE grade high (keeping in mind that, to them, PE is probably a piece of cake, and therefore their “all” would mean showing up even when they’re sick). It’s also like that student who has a YouTube channel. Maybe their standards for academics are low, but those set for the YouTube public are high.
The people you surround yourself with also play a huge role in helping you determine what your standards are. I’ll ask you one question: does the way that the people you in your circle treat you make you happy, honestly?
My more important question to you goes as follows: have you ever considered being the standard?
Be careful here. I certainly don’t mean it in the competitive sense where people should strive to be like you. Absolutely not—that is draining and detrimental. What I mean is, everyone has work and academic standards, but how many of us have set standards for that one characteristic or value that makes us who we are?
Why not choose that characteristic/value and become standards? Not necessarily for others, but essentially for ourselves!
Consider my first hypothetical person named Rose. Rose is blessed with the incredible gift of empathy. She is able to put herself in other people’s shoes. She understands what they’re feeling even when she hasn’t been through the same experience. Rose is interpersonally intelligent and is able to perfectly read the room when she walks in. Wouldn’t Rose want to remain that way for as long as she lives? Isn’t her power to understand other people (and her success in that matter) her standard and the way she wants to be with all people, or anyone who needs someone to listen?
Now take a look at my second hypothetical person, Ray. Ray is born a natural sensitive, but was told to bury that side of him because he is a man, and a man should never express sad feelings. Ray grew up perplexed as to why he can’t talk about his feelings the way his sister can. One day, he decided to nurture his inherent sensitivity and use it to better interact with the world. After being told to suppress his feelings and hold back his tears all this time, and after experiencing the relief of talking about it as well as accepting that men can express their sad feelings too, Ray set his sensitivity as a standard for him and made it his asset for strong, positive relationships with his surroundings.
It’s great to be an academic, a dentist, teacher, lawyer, doctor, designer, entrepreneur, CEO, artist, actor, carpenter, vet, or any other professional. These are all part of the persona we’ve been building for years now. But why sacrifice a value standard to only nurture a work standard?
What I’m trying to say is, valorize your value standards as if they were your houseplants. Sun or rain, warm weather or cold weather, it is my duty to take care of my houseplants and prevent them from wilting. My houseplants are remarkable because of how well they’re taken care of, and so should your value standards.
Cultivate your values/characteristics and make them your identity. Be able to look at something you did and think to yourself, “Wow, this is exactly how I firmly believe I should do this.” Cultivate them to the point where people notice your values/standards and start using your name to mean a good act or good behavior, “This is such a [your name] thing to do.” or “This person acts like such a [your name]. It’s wonderful.”
(Now that last idea may have been a little egoistic, but I’ve heard it several times with my name inserted in the above sentences, and it feels great!)
Life doesn’t revolve around work or academics only. Life also counts on us and the way we live with others and ourselves. So, embrace your beautiful characteristics/values that make you the person you are. Grow your value standards and work on being a wonderful, colorful, and joyful human being!
Did you take a look at your list of characteristics yet? Which standard will you pick?
Songs I listened to while writing this post:
- Don’t Go Far – Charlie Cunningham
- Thinking About You – Ocie Elliott
- Misplaced – Riley Pearce
- Still Life – Henry Jamison (ft. Joseph)
- It Must Be Luck – Sons Of The East
- California – Sons Of The East
- Hold On – Sons Of The East
- Sick Of Losing Soulmates – dodie
- Little Darling – Benjalu
- Silver Lining – Sons Of The East
- That Place – Tay Oskee
- Blue Eyes – Jordy Maxwell
- Being Me – Jack and the Weatherman
- Changing And Healing – Felipe Baldomir
- You’re okay – brodyn
Found a New Home 