4 MEASUREMENTS OF DURABILITY
“Durable…means that a material lends its natural qualities to being adaptable. You are the designer of your own durability.
Professionally and personally, you are also the product.”
Durability is a Measurement
Durability is an organic quality of continuity. Useful durability means having a natural tendency to conform to a need, indispensably thrive in its application to that need, and remain. It means both uniqueness through contribution and conformity in the form of responsiveness. It is long-term-fit-for-purpose.
The above paragraph is pure genius and you need to read it again. I’ll wait here…
I love the smell of leather. Yes, I know there are implications of animal cruelty in that statement. Let’s compromise and say the cow perished of natural causes. Then there was leather – boots, saddles, jackets, baseball gloves, tool-belts, wallets, and automobile upholstery. It’s naturally durable, smells amazing, and it just feels right.
There are substitutes for leather, to be sure. Plastics, plant-based products, and other woven materials have comparable qualities of durability – but in fact my leather boots and tool-belt have outlasted every pair of non-leathers I have ever owned. Substitution has a cost in the continuity game.
That, baseball fans, is what is known as a fast-ball, and you didn’t swing at it. I will pause and restate it for emphasis: substitution has a cost in the continuity game. So often we look for a cheaper, faster alternative to the quality we really need. We prefer to produce rather than grow. We prefer to replace than repair.
The point is, there are degrees and standards of durability, and there are material qualities that create the reputation of creating lasting and useful products. Durable doesn’t mean indestructible, rather it means that a material lends its natural qualities to being adaptable. [Pause AGAIN for genius.]
Durability Isn’t Easy
Obviously the opposite of durable is disposable. The gap between the two involves composition and challenge. In other words, what is it made of and how hard can we test it?
Here are a few thoughts on durability worth pondering:
Something or someone durable is likely to become conversation fodder and will establish precedent and standards of quality with expectation. With every test, mention, criticism, or compliment comes an adaptation that adds to the legend. Therefore, the trait of useful longevity, grit, and thick-skinned-stick-ability is a behavior that remains after the challenge, long enough to become anticipated. Durability may mean reputation.
If something (or someone) is durable it is meant for the purpose of taking punishment. The durable are built for abuse. The hits just keep coming, don’t they? It is as if trial, error, and repeat might have an extended purpose. It’s as though a clue to your purpose in life is in the punishment, the struggle, that you learn to perform gracefully within. Durability may mean you have created margin for success and error, and that flexibility has become apparent.
In the manufacturing space, the mold is fixed and the product is consistent. The assembly line turns out identical products, to the degree that identical is itself a product. In the people space, identical is an unattainable dream. We are all different. We all perform at different levels, even having received the same training and conditioning. So how do we find our strengths? Durability may mean experimentation.
Durability may be applied to relationships. When someone is consistent in their dealings, their dependability becomes anticipated, expected, compared, and missed when lapsed. Long-term relationships have infrequency built-in. People become accustomed to certain levels of performance and pace. Consequently, an unexpected gap in performance may signal the need to reinforce the basics and provide reassurance. Durability may foster dependency.
Do You Want to Be Durable?
Finally, we can decide durability. You can choose durability. I’ll wager you didn’t know that. Most people assume the motto for their lives, “what will be, will be”, “que sera, sera,” and remain awash in a concept of fate. I profoundly resist that notion. No doubt, at times things are fully beyond our control, but a good designer of merchandise will be able to foresee the wear-points of the product, and prescribe manufacturing accordingly.
The designer will choose to reinforce those wear-points with thicker leather or extra stitching. As a result, this extra and planned attention to the quality of the product strengthens its integrity, and where product integrity is weakened by consumer abuse, the designer can take extra steps to predict and protect compromised surfaces.
You are the designer of your own durability. Professionally and personally, you are also the product. You can apply intentional behaviors, create new habits, play to your strengths, and protect your weaknesses.
Tell me what aspects of your life are moving toward durability? Stand away from yourself and behold yourself as an observer. If you were your best friend, what would you tell you? Where are you solid? Where are you squishy?
What facet of your character is leathery? Talk to me about the aspects of your character that are adaptable and conform to applications no one else can satisfy, soaking into continuity. Tell me where do you stand apart as a durable solution?
