A few years ago, my daughter sustained an injury while playing soccer and required a below-knee cast. The
technician who applied the cast was an expert, and his performance was poetry in motion. He had our full attention throughout the encounter as he maintained a steady banter that included providing use and care instruction, answering questions, and sprinkling in humorous anecdotes. (“Don’t shove anything down your cast, including chocolate chip cookies. And yes, I’ve seen that!”) It would have been obvious to any casual observer that he was highly skilled in every aspect of the procedure, but his performance even held up to my more rigorous scrutiny. There was no wasted motion as he prepared the plaster bandage, applied padding, and molded splints and plaster rolls in place. To all appearances his focus was exclusively on the interaction with my daughter, and the physical tasks required little or no conscious thought or effort.
