Dan Harmon Is Bad At Washing Dishes

I told my buddy, Dan, a story last night.

When I worked at a church, there was a golden boy. A young guy, a kid really, who was great at ministry. He was good at doing devotions, he was musical, he was friendly, he was funny without being offensive. He was into sports (which was a big thing there), and people loved him. He was the guy you would look at and think, “He’ll go far in this organization.” And, if you wanted to go far as well, you should probably try a little harder to be like him. When I would find myself in a sticky work thing, I would ask myself, “what would old golden boy do?” See, I wasn’t like him. I said weird stuff during devotions, I wasn’t musical. I was hard to work with and precious about my work. I thought cursing was funny. I hated ports. Nobody imagined I’d go that far in the organization.

Dan Harmon is a writer, a story structure expert, and the creator of both the television show Community and the cartoon Rick And Morty. So, my hero, okay? My hero. He was on a podcast once where he told the story of washing dishes at a restaurant. He was really bad at. People would get mad at him for doing such a poor job and being so slow. But this old guy also worked there who was really good at it. A dish washing rock star, if you will. People patted him on the back, gave him high fives and basically loved him for how he washed dishes. Dan Harmon always, though, “I need to try and be more like that guy.”

What I love about Dan is that he didn’t talk the dish washer down because he washed dishes. Instead he kind of used this story to celebrate a guy who had found his thing and was doing it. That’s a special kind of magic. But Dan ended the story by pointing out how much time he wasted, trying to be a good dish washer instead of focusing on becoming Dan Harmon: TV show creator. What if he had spent his life trying to be a dish washer, just because he wanted his bosses at a restaurant to like him and give him high fives and praise him? If you’ve ever watched Rick and Morty then you know that’d be a frickin’ tragedy like the world has never seen. Lot more clean dishes, I guess, but that hardly seems like a fair trade off.

Have I telegraphed this well? Do you see where I’m going?

I wasn’t brave enough. I got pushed out the door at the church. It would be a better story, if I’d thrown my apron on the counter and walked out, but no, they blinked first. But, thank whatever god is, they did. Because ,if they hadn’t, I’d still be there, up to my elbows in water, trying to wash dishes like the golden boy — and failing miserably. Because I’m not a dish washer. I’m not saying I’m gonna create Rick and Morty either — but my potential to create joy and introduce it to the world, goes up exponentially if I’m doing what I’m actually good at — instead of trying to be somebody else.

I’m pretty sure the golden boy is still there, doing what he’s good at. And that’s nice to know. I hope the old dish washer is still there at that restaurant., washing dishes, making people happy. I know, Dan Harmon and I aren’t going anywhere, any time soon. When you find your thing, you make plans to stay a while.