Edition #68 | The Tape That Enabled Everything | Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Skilled work is often slowed by small, invisible problems that people simply learn to live with. Most craftsmen work around the friction. A rare few decide it is worth solving anyway.

Let's get into it.

On May 27, 1930, the U.S. Patent Office issued a patent to 3M for a new transparent cellophane tape. This was the invention the world would soon know as Scotch Tape.

Richard Drew, a young lab technician at 3M, had already spent years refusing to accept the poor tools available to craftsmen. He watched auto body painters waste hours masking cars with newspaper and glue that left sticky residue and tore the fresh paint. Drew created the first practical masking tape: a paper tape with an adhesive that held when needed and peeled away clean.

That success only made him more determined. He kept experimenting until he developed a tape that was clear, strong, and versatile enough for many trades. The 1930 patent formalized the transparent version. Once it existed, it spread rapidly into workshops, factories, homes, and offices. Painters, cabinetmakers, electricians, and manufacturers suddenly had a simple tool that let them work faster, protect finished surfaces, and deliver higher quality results.

What began as one man in a laboratory deciding that other people’s daily frustrations were worth solving became a quiet foundation for better craft across entire industries.

The highest form of work often happens when someone gives full attention to a problem that is not officially theirs. Removing friction so others can do better work is rarely assigned or celebrated, but it is one of the most practical expressions of Excellence. The verse does not limit wholehearted effort to the tasks that come with a title or a bonus. It simply says whatever you do.

Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism, learned this principle the hard way when he nearly missed the birth of his first child because he was overcommitted to meetings he had labeled "important." He teaches that the ability to eliminate the non-essential is what allows the essential work to emerge. The real advantage often belongs to those who refuse to be pulled into noise and instead give their best attention to the problems that actually unlock better work for everyone around them.

This week, take the young person you are equipping into a real workspace. Watch one person do their actual work for twenty minutes. Together, spot one point of friction, wasted motion, or repeated irritation. Then build or adapt one small thing that removes it. A tool. A holder. A two-minute process change. Test it. Keep encouraging them to solve the problem, and don’t let them give up. Teach them to become hunters of the invisible fixes that enable real progress to happen.