#539 It doesn’t matter what I decide

Performance gap: the frustrating gap between how you know something should be done in an ideal world and how you currently do it. 

One implication of the performance gap: you don’t have to master this skill today.

Another implication, maybe even more important: your idea of how something “should be done” is probably wrong anyway.

Because as you practice and gain mastery, you’ll also gain progressive insight: a more nuanced intellectual understanding of the skill you’re practicing.

What I thought was a “good” yoga session six months ago, I now see as a session full of misalignment and cramped muscles.

What I thought of as a solid piece of writing six months ago, I now see as an argument full of holes and points of improvement.

Sometimes, progressive insight is just about more nuances.

Sometimes, progressive insight shows that your initial intellectual understanding completely missed the mark.

There’s only one way to find out: practice: Sculpt away, day by day. 

I can’t just say, “today, I’m going to be excellent at writing.”

Excellence is an outcome: a result of focused daily actions.

And one of the fastest ways to excellence is the pursuit of failure.

Not just making accidental mistakes but actively seeking them out.

Did I write nonsense today? Did I understand why I was writing nonsense? Have I learned something from writing that nonsense that will help me write something less nonsensical tomorrow?

The pursuit of failure is painful, especially for perfectionists like me.

But once ego, perfectionism, and the fear of failure make way for a commitment to the process, there’s much to learn from daily mistakes.