Changing My Mind About Excellence
Last month, I wrote a post called Why Not Adequate?, about how the common ADF saying, "Why Not Excellence?" can be unhelpful.
Last week, I listened to an interview with author Brad Stulburg on the Nuance Needed podcast and ... I changed my mind!
I had been confusing "excellence" with "perfectionism", and equating excellence with the "Hustle Culture" - a culture that I am trying to escape from!
According to Mr. Stulburg, excellence doesn't have anything to do with striving for perfection and hustling. Instead, excellence is something humans are wired for. This quote comes from his book, "The Way of Excellence":
"Excellence is less a destination and more an energizing process of growth and becoming — an ongoing path that yields our best performances and, every bit as important, our best selves. We are made to move toward excellence as a tree is made to move toward the sun."
Excellence is the opposite of being "too cool to care." It's caring deeply about something, and putting your back into it.
When you look at the Dedicant Path from that vantage point, excellence looks a lot more appealing - and a lot more fun than just slouching along and praying my poor reviewer passes my work.
There's a risk involved here - you could put your whole heart into the work and fail. There are no guarantees! But, since the process is more important than the final outcome, failure is a little easier to take.
Mr. Stulburg points out that consistency beats intensity every time. For us Type A sorts, the challenge is in not going crazy with intensity, but to spread that energy out over the long haul.
(Anyone else make start strong on their DP and then fall off spectacularly? Yeah, me too.)
So even though I'm feeling excited about this project again, I'm going to do my best to apply this burst of energy in small doses so I don't totally burn out again. 😅 I'll keep you posted!
Thoughts about my thoughts? I would be happy to hear them via email at knitonmycat@gmail.com, or you can find me on Discord: knitonmycat0809.