Greatness
exploring the foundations of quality and the currents that fight against mediocrity
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Greatness
One of the best ideas I learned from Kobe Bryant:
“Don’t copy the what. Copy the how”
Kobe would study greatness in any domain. Sports, music, business, art, whatever.
This is why:
“No matter what discipline you are in, there’s a... See more
Reaching 95%-ile isn't very impressive because it's not that hard to do. I think this is one of my most ridiculable ideas. It doesn't help that, when stated nakedly, that sounds elitist. But I think it's just the opposite: most people can become (relatively) good at most things.
Atul Gawande • 95%-Ile Isn't That Good
When you make something, when you improve something, when you deliver something, when you add some new thing or service to the lives of strangers, making them happier, or healthier, or safer, or better, and when you do it all crisply and efficiently, smartly, the way everything should be done but so seldom is—you’re participating more fully in the... See more
Phil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Steve Jobs: We don't ship junk, HD version
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Love this definition of art, from Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
... See moreArt is anything you can do well, anything you can do with quality, anything where there are options for doing it well or poorly. And there are very few things in this world that don't have options for doing it well or poorly. So you can make an art
“anything where there are options for doing it well or poorly”
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.”