Brad Stulberg

That to me is pseudo excellence.

I think genuine excellence

is, again, when the mountain that you're climbing is one that you chose because it aligns with your values, and it's one that you genuinely want to climb.

And the reason that I think that, yes, this is for everyone, it's not just for elite athletes or master chefs or Grammy-winning musicians, is because so many people that I spoke with in the reporting process said that they have a sense of longing in their lives and kind of a sense of going through the motions and almost numbness.

And when you pursue excellence, when you are serious about an activity, when that activity becomes a craft, one of the greatest rewards that you'll ever get from it, more than any medal or any income or any promotion, is a sense of satisfaction that you've gained skill and you've gained competence.

I think that the answer here is it depends.

Some of us are really fortunate to have a livelihood that very much aligns with our values, where we can pursue excellence and mastery in our work.

Some of us don't, and that's totally okay.

I think another big misconception is that excellence is just a pursuit that is professional.

So if you don't like your job, well, then you're never going to have an opportunity to have excellence in your life, especially in America.

I think that we often ask people, right, like, what do you do?

We over identify with our work.

And for some people, work is just that it's a way to pay the bills.

It's a way to open yourselves up to other leisure pursuits.

But that's where you get to pursue excellence, right?

Like you can pursue excellence as a musician.

You can do it as a baker.

You can do it as an athlete.

And it's not a standard.

It's not saying that you need to be world class.