From Christopher Alexander foreword to Richard Gabriel's "Patterns Of Software":
In my life as an architect, I find that the single thing which inhibits young professionals, new students most severely, is their acceptance of standards that are too low. If I ask a student whether her design is as good as Chartres, she... See more
a thought-provoking read on energetic aliens - the rare few that can sustain their focus on cognitive tasks for more than the avg 4-6hrs a day without burning out.
Rick Rubin on Cultivating World-Class Artists (Jay Z, Johnny Cash, etc.), Losing 100+ Pounds, and Breaking Down The Complex (#76)
I asked Kelly about the tradeoffs of focusing on a single thing if you want to be great (which is what I had been getting at before). “Greatness is overrated,” he said, and I perked up. “It’s a form of extremism, and it comes with extreme vices that I have no interest in. Steve Jobs was a jerk. Bob Dylan is a jerk.”
There is a tension; the longer you remain committed to a single cause of greatness, the more incapable you become of being good enough at everything else.