Effort is not the same thing as excellence
As my wife read the last couple of pieces (here and here, she remarked but does everything have to be done with excellence? At all times? Sounds exhausting.
If we are serious about excellence, does everything require that standard or is good enough sometimes just that?
It is easy to conflate excellence with effort. We make the mental jump that excellence = hard work. And this mentality is often reinforced culturally. Perhaps, like me, you were taught as a child that if how we do something is a reflection of our character, raising the stakes of how we approach a task.
But excellence is not hard work, nor perfection.
A better definition of excellence is flourishing. Things flourish (grow) as they realize their potential. A potted seed sprouts as it is given the right soil, water, and space to grow. When we pursue excellence, we seek their growth. Seeds do not sprout any faster with greater effort or force. Or as Warren Buffett once put it, “You can’t make a baby in 1 month by getting 9 women pregnant.”
How we pursue excellence will look differently in different domains of life. Good enough often works. What flourishing looks like is not the same for every person.
Imagine you are shopping for a new computer keyboard. There are a million choices - but Wirecutter and a few other services have developed lists of well regarded ones.
How long should you spend evaluating this purchase? Or any similar purchase for you?
Maybe you use your keyboard in your job - so you don’t want to get the decision wrong. But you are not a keyboard nerd willing to spend $10,000 on a custom keyboard (yes - that is a thing).
(Side note, we live in a time with a vast explosion in expertise. In everything, there is a raving group of fans who have nerded out on something to the n-th degree. This should neither intimidate nor overwhelm us. We do not have to be an expert in everything, even if we have easy access to the information required)
So in your keyboard purchase, you do a bit of research and pull the trigger. And for you, that is an excellent decision. It is aligned with what you need to grow in that moment. Spending four more hours, making 10 phone calls and hand wringing is not going to help you make a better decision.
But if you are a world class computer programmer who wields a keyboard as Arthur wielded Excalibur, your process for decision making may look different.
Excellence is not about volume of effort, it is about “right effort.” The right amount applied at the right time in the right place.