2 ms·

I disagree, work that is actually useful to the world is almost always polished. As an academic scientist, “good“ isn’t useful, that last 20% is essential to ma

by _yb2s 4y ago

I disagree, work that is actually useful to the world is almost always polished. As an academic scientist, “good“ isn’t useful, that last 20% is essential to make sure my work is correct and understandable to the world. If a professor demands polished work, they are teaching the students that they are capable of more than they believe they are. I think it’s more rewarding, and more useful to the world to complete one polished work vs a number of good works. When I look back at my education, I was angry about professors that demanded polished work, but in hindsight I feel that those are the only classes that prepared me for real success, and they were insisting on greatness because they believed I was capable of it. They believed in me, when the people accepting “good enough” did not.

ghaff 4y ago
I generally agree. One can probably come up with scenarios where doing more things "well enough" to get by is maybe the right answer. And there's another extreme where you never finish anything because it's never good enough. But in general, my goal is to produce work that's polished--or at least polished enough for the purpose at hand. You're mostly not rewarded for producing lots of sub-par work--you just get known for sub-par work.
ricardobayes 4y ago
Not sure about this. I'm going to paint with broad stripes here, but take Spanish work culture versus USA for example. Spain is okay with 'good enough', while US is striving for excellence through overtime etc. Or Christmas in the US, everything "has to be perfect", if there's a slight hiccup, the whole thing is ruined. In Spain people just shrug their shoulders and carry on. In my opinion, as a consequence, the average Spanish person is a lot happier than the average American.
- _yb2s 4y ago
  Interesting that you would point out the Spanish vs American work culture. I feel there is some more nuance and complexity here that can't be captured in a single dimension, e.g. 80% vs 100%. As a scientist, I have found that I most often prefer to work with Spanish scientists on projects, and indeed mostly collaborate with Spanish people, despite having never been to Spain, not speaking Spanish, etc. I just really connect with their culture and attitude, and love working with them. But I wouldn't characterize it as "good enough" vs "excellence." I find there is a deeper excellence in Spanish work that you don't usually see in American work that is hard for me to put words to, but I will list a few things that come to mind as well as I can: * An appreciation for minimalism and simplicity- simplifying the work itself, so that it can be 'excellent' while being paired down to the core of what is important, with nothing superfluous or distracting added. Simplicity allows more excellent work, not less, and allows you to actually get to 100%. * A playful or joyful child-like attitude towards the work that sees it as fun, rather than a huge stressful burden. This lightness allows for visionary high risk work that would be too 'scary' for people that take the work too seriously and can't endure a chance of failure. * An understanding that we are humans, and need relaxation, naps, solitude, contemplation, and joyful social experiences to be fully human, and to continue being creative, happy, and healthy people that can do excellent work. In short, I feel that the Spanish approach to work actually makes it practical to bring work from merely "good" to truly "excellent" without burning out. Nietzsche, a German, writes a lot about this, and how he much more admires and likes to work with Mediterranean philosophers vs other Germans, and how he also feels that the cultural differences make German work mostly mediocre, and Mediterranean work excellent. This is the idea behind his book "The Gay Science," e.g. The Joyful Wisdom or The Joyous Science.

by _yb2s 4y ago

ghaff 4y ago

I generally agree. One can probably come up with scenarios where doing more things "well enough" to get by is maybe the right answer. And there's another extreme where you never finish anything because it's never good enough. But in general, my goal is to produce work that's polished--or at least polished enough for the purpose at hand. You're mostly not rewarded for producing lots of sub-par work--you just get known for sub-par work.

ricardobayes 4y ago

Not sure about this. I'm going to paint with broad stripes here, but take Spanish work culture versus USA for example. Spain is okay with 'good enough', while US is striving for excellence through overtime etc. Or Christmas in the US, everything "has to be perfect", if there's a slight hiccup, the whole thing is ruined. In Spain people just shrug their shoulders and carry on. In my opinion, as a consequence, the average Spanish person is a lot happier than the average American.

_yb2s 4y ago
Interesting that you would point out the Spanish vs American work culture. I feel there is some more nuance and complexity here that can't be captured in a single dimension, e.g. 80% vs 100%. As a scientist, I have found that I most often prefer to work with Spanish scientists on projects, and indeed mostly collaborate with Spanish people, despite having never been to Spain, not speaking Spanish, etc. I just really connect with their culture and attitude, and love working with them. But I wouldn't characterize it as "good enough" vs "excellence." I find there is a deeper excellence in Spanish work that you don't usually see in American work that is hard for me to put words to, but I will list a few things that come to mind as well as I can: * An appreciation for minimalism and simplicity- simplifying the work itself, so that it can be 'excellent' while being paired down to the core of what is important, with nothing superfluous or distracting added. Simplicity allows more excellent work, not less, and allows you to actually get to 100%. * A playful or joyful child-like attitude towards the work that sees it as fun, rather than a huge stressful burden. This lightness allows for visionary high risk work that would be too 'scary' for people that take the work too seriously and can't endure a chance of failure. * An understanding that we are humans, and need relaxation, naps, solitude, contemplation, and joyful social experiences to be fully human, and to continue being creative, happy, and healthy people that can do excellent work. In short, I feel that the Spanish approach to work actually makes it practical to bring work from merely "good" to truly "excellent" without burning out. Nietzsche, a German, writes a lot about this, and how he much more admires and likes to work with Mediterranean philosophers vs other Germans, and how he also feels that the cultural differences make German work mostly mediocre, and Mediterranean work excellent. This is the idea behind his book "The Gay Science," e.g. The Joyful Wisdom or The Joyous Science.