Monthly Archives: October 2014

Skill is the Sum of Small Details

Context, Thoughts On Life

Many people, when they almost succeed but don’t because of a small detail, downplay the small detail’s role as a reflection of a lack of skill.  Instead, they claim to have the skills necessary to succeed but that they were unlucky.  The chance of that small detail occurring was too small to warrant preparing for, and therefore they have the skill to succeed in most cases.  

To that I say: Yes, you have the skill to achieve in most cases, but it is important to note that experienced professionals take care of the small details and can succeed in more than most cases. In fact, that’s what you pay them for, and that’s where they demonstrate their experience and skill: in their ability to handle the small details.  Anyone can follow a recipe and cook an egg, but it is in the small details of how you execute each step that a professional chef can be distinguished from an amateur cook.  To explain it another way: the more times you follow the same recipe, the more chances you have of making mistakes, and the more chances you have of gaining experience on how to correct the mistakes that you see happening.  Therefore, an experienced cook following the same recipe as an amateur cook will cook a better meal because when a “small detail” comes up, the experienced cook will know how to take care of the small detail while the amateur will not.

Therefore, if you seek to become truly skilled, it is not right to distance yourself from responsibility and place blame on the small detail.  Rather, take responsibility for the small details since they have significant enough impacts to cause you to fail.  Think about that last statement: if the detail was important enough to cause you to fail, doesn’t that make it a rather important detail and not a small one?  As such, there is no such thing as a small detail: if it impacts the outcome, it is a major detail that you over looked and should plan for and protect against in the future.   What is skill but the culmination of a bunch of small details?

This post is part of AttemptedLiving’s Life Education Curriculum, a collection of core knowledge everyone should have.  See the “Life Philosophy” section.

To find out when those posts, and other life education writing, are released, subscribe on the side! Follow on Twitter, on Facebook, on Google+, on Tumblr.

Code for Ordering from a Bartender

Life Skills

Code for ordering from a bartender:

  • Neat: Serve my drink straight from the bottle at room temperature. Scotch neat.
  • Up: Stir or shake my drink with ice and serve it to me without ice in the glass. If you prefer one or the other, here’s your chance to be James Bond. Vodka martini shaken.
  • Rocks: Serve my drink on ice. Makers on the rocks please.
  • Dry, Sweet, Perfect: When ordering a vermouth drink, specify how you would like it prepared. Dry Rye Manhattan Up.
  • Dirty: When ordering a martini, you can request that it be prepared dirty. The bartender will add a bit of the olive juice to your cocktail to make it a bit saltier.
  • Double. When ordering any drink, you may specify how strong you want it by asking for a double. You are doubling the liquor and doubling the price. This works for most basic drinks. Whiskey and make it double.
  • Twist: For the twist lemon is default, specify if you’d like something out of the ordinary for that drink, keeping in mind that they only have lemons, limes, oranges, and cherries. Dry Bourbon Manhattan on the rocks with an orange twist.
  • Mixers and a splash of this or that: Most of the time the mixer is in the name of the drink. But otherwise, the bargun has soda, tonic, cran, sprite, coke, sour, and diet. Gin and tonic with a splash of sprite.
  • Chasers and back are ordered with a shot to wash it down. In the old days, you would ask for a whiskey with a water back. The bartender would give you a whiskey and a short glass of water to drink with it. A chaser is more of a full drink to have after your shot. Shot of bourbon with a beer chaser.
  • If you want a specific spirit, say it before the drink name. It’s the first thing the bartender grabs. Ketel One Martini Up with a twist.
  • If you are clumsy, you can even specify your glass. Brandy Old Fashioned with a splash of sprite in a lowball.
  • Wet or tall: if you prefer your drink to be a little more dilluted, you can ask for it in a taller glass, and you will get a bit more mix. Asking for it wet will result in the drink ordered but more mix and less ice in a normal glass.

Source: Reddit

This post is part of AttemptedLiving’s Life Education Curriculum, a collection of core knowledge everyone should have.  See the “Life Philosophy” section.

To find out when those posts, and other life education writing, are released, subscribe on the side! Follow on Twitter, on Facebook, on Google+, on Tumblr.