Always. No matter the task, the job, the career. No matter how simple or complex. Always look for a way to make it better. Make it better for yourself. Make it better for others. In fact, make it better for the sake of better. Even if you don’t like it (or, heck, even hate it) you should always be looking for a way to improve it.

Because learning how to improve things is transferable. It scales. It is a skill. It can be learned. And when you can learn how to make even the mundane or uninteresting or loathsome better you can do that with the good and the great and the perfect. Yes, even the perfect can be made better (once you divorce yourself of the idea that perfect exists).

In fact, I would argue that every invention, every innovation, and every revolution, can be traced to this simple goal. Someone, somewhere, just wanted to make it better and had the gumption, skill, and opportunity to do so.

Steve Jobs, for instance, made computers better. Then, he made music buying better. Then he made music players better. Then he made phones better. Then he made computers better all over again. Of course, he did not do this alone. He created an entire company who’s sole collective commitment is, in my eyes at least, to methodically and relentlessly make things better.

Think of someone you admire. Perhaps someone you know or even someone famous. Think of what it is you admire most about them and I’d be willing to bet that it fits some version of, “They make X better”. They make your life better or your television better or your food better. You get the idea.

It’s not enough to change the world. Change it for the better. Put a dent in the universe once you can see clearly that the dent will make it better. And, when you leave, as we all will inevitably do, leave it better.

I’m a writer. Writing is how I make this world better, friendlier, stronger place. If these words improved your day, please let me know by contributing here.