Should I feel bad if I don't want to "be the best" at what I do?

[Taverner]

Should I feel like some kind of talentless slacker because I just want do do what I do, but don't give a rat's ass if I'm the best at it, but just enjoying it.

Is that so wrong?

[pokerfan]

1. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

(Henry Van Dyke)

[YankeyMCC]

2. Every week or so I put up a quote

on my white board outside my cubicle, you just gave me the next one.

[pokerfan]

If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly

(Unknown)

:P

I once had a t-shirt with that on it along with a skier doing a face-plant. :rofl:

[YankeyMCC]

5. LoL! Another good one!

[kayakjohnny]

3. Is this about guitar playing?

If so, I agree.

And if not, I still agree.

[Kerrytravelers]

4. What defines best? And what comes at the expense of being best?

Ask yourself exactly what you mean by best and what else suffers at your desire to be the best.

Then I think you'll have your answer.

[HappyMe]

6. It's not wrong at all.

The key is that you enjoy it.
The fun gets sucked out of things that you have to work at to become the 'best'. Turns it into a chore.

[raccoon]

7. No, in fact you've touched on one thing that's wrong with our society.

EVERYBODY can't be above average, except in Lake Woebegon.

We should be more accepting of the average, the so-so, etc. "mediocre" shouldn't be a put-down.

[zanana1]

10. I've been average all my life...

And I'm very good at it.

[raccoon]

8. And remember we recently had a POTUS who wasn't the best at anything. nt

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. What about your personal best?

Maybe you aren't Top 10 or whatever at whatever.

Are you doing the best that *you* can do?

Do you ask the best of the people around you? Your surgeon. The guy helping you carry the couch up the stairs. The employee cleaning the bathroom at the restaurant you're going to eat at.

No one of us is insignificant. That means we all have an impact on each other. That means we owe each other our best. Not for ourselves or self-enrichment but because the people whose lives we touch are our family, friends and neighbors.

[snagglepuss]

12. That truly is an excellent point. How would anyof us feel if doctors or car

mechanics etc etc held the the view of the OP which I agreed with till I read your post.

:applause:

[surrealAmerican]

14. Except for the surgeon you mentioned ...

... I would be perfectly fine with any of them doing a competent job, even if they are capable of more.


If lives are not at stake, it's not wrong to do a good enough job. Does every meal you make have to be perfect, or will you settle for edible and nutritious for all but the most important ones?

[Taverner]

15. Exactly

Say they weren't your surgeon, but your mailman?

Or a member of your IT team...

[dimbear]

11. Like the old saying goes, if it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing badly.

You wouldn't want to hear me play.

[EFerrari]

13. When I do the one or two things I do best

am never thinking about how well I'm doing them. :shrug: