Early on in the book, he mentions going in to a motorcycle repair shop and the radio in the workshop is blaring loudly. The kid who was supposed to fix his motorcycle, broke his motorcycle instead. The people who (you would think would) want to be doing high quality work had created an environment of distraction so that they didn’t have to think about their work. The result was low quality work.

So, now in my work environment, I’m now looking to see if my co-workers add to the work environment or detract from it. And the same coin but the flip side: I don’t go bother my co-workers about the latest news / sports / politics. We need to get stuff done, so our clients don’t find someone else to hire in our stead.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. As a young person, it was quite the question: What is quality? We all know it when we see it. But what is it? Can you just go to the store and say, “I’d like to buy twelve (what?) of quality, please?” Obviously not. So what is it?

I’ve never looked at co-workers the same since reading that book.