Is mediocrity acceptable?
I would often get chided by colleagues or seniors for giving too much attention to detail. 'Get on with it Priya we don't have all day! So much detail doesn't matter. Nobody is going to pay so much attention.' My mind would go 'Urghhh', as my eyes rolled and I'd shake my head slowly for the nth time. It's like saying quantity and speed are more important than the quality of output!
To my mind, not doing things without being completely present and not giving the task at hand your absolute best, is a sinful waste of time - just don't do it for heaven's sake. Because when you do mediocre word it takes you several steps back, hampers progress of work, reduces the beauty of human kind and the world at large. I am of the firm belief that mediocrity is degenerative and unacceptable!
I agree that certain situations demand speed and quantity but in most cases it is quality that is the mainstay. My philosophy has always been to do the best I can in the moment - take care about the perfect garnish for a home cooked meal, the appropriate colour tone for the mood in an image, the perfect cut in the edit of a film, the crossing of all the T's and dotting all the i's in my quest for producing perfection. Put simply, if I can't make something better, why do it at all.
'But Priya, perfection is elusive and anything could be done better! However hard you try, someone else could always do it better. So why bother?'
.... Because we humans desire better lives which is evident in the innovation mushrooming around us every single day, making life easier for us. And I believe, that everyone of us is capable of genius provided we set our minds to it. All you require to do is be a leader in every moment of your life and put in your best effort ... always! Don't cheat the world and yourself of your brilliance - focus and make it happen!
Here are 3 questions to ask yourself before you are done:
Have I achieved the objective I set out to achieve?
Is this the best I could have done?
If someone else presented my own work to me would it make me smile?
And if you said YES to the above, you're all set to ship your work to the world! If not, then for the good of the world at large and yourself, hold it back and get back to the drawing board.
