You are your own worst customer

In 2005, Marketing researcher David Maister published a paper about the psychology of waiting lines. In it, he outlines a simple formula to determine whether a customer will be satisfied with their experience, notated as S = P - E. 

“In this formulation, 'S' stands for satisfaction, 'P' for perception and 'E' for expectation,” Maister writes. “If you expect a certain level of service, and perceive the service reviewed to be higher, you are a satisfied client. If you perceive the same level as before, but expected higher, you are disappointed and, consequently, a dissatisfied client.”

I’ve referenced Maister’s paper before to explain why short-term creative sprints work, while indefinite creative commitments often fail. When we are faced with “uncertain waits” they feel anger than “finite waits.” But I think Maister’s research doesn’t just impact the schedule of creative consistency. It impacts the experience of it, too. 

How would you rate yourself as an artist? How high are your expectations for your work? If we use Maister’s equation for satisfaction, it stands to reason that high expectations reduce the amount of satisfaction we feel in our work. 

A close friend of mine who manages a restaurant often calls bad customers “high expectation guests.” What else makes someone a bad customer, than complaining about unmet expectations? 

On the path of creative consistency, good days will come. Days when you unlock a new skill, have a great idea, or reach a new threshold. If we expect that to happen every time we create, we decrease our chances of artistic satisfaction. If we’re not satisfied with our work for too long of a period, we’ll get discouraged and quit. 

I’ll expand Maister’s formula for us. High expectation equals low satisfaction. Low satisfaction equals low consistency. Low consistency equals lower quality work over time.