I’ve been thinking lately about doing great work. Often I find myself saying some version of the following:
Great work is the only work worth doing.
What’s the point if we’re not trying to make something great?
I am only interested in doing great work with great people.
I took a step back to consider why I say these things, and what I mean when I say them. It all started because I was worried that I was coming across as too aggressive, too harsh. Then I decided I should stop worrying about what people think and move on. Because I do believe in striving for great.
There is something deeply sad about spending our time on this earth doing things that are fine. That are okay. That are good enough to check the box. You can be very ‘successful’ doing that, and plenty of people are. But it’s not for me.
I believe in striving for greatness for its own sake. Because it feels good. Because it’s challenging. Because it feels like I’m transcending a script that’s been written for me without my input.
What’s most critical is that I feel whatever I’m doing is worthy. Not that anyone else does. I don’t strive for greatness because someone else recognizes it as such. I do it because I have to. For me.
Do I think I am great? Not at all. I am flawed and hopeless and helpless, just like every other human on this earth. And this is a key difference. I’m not trying to be a great human (although I hope not to be a bad one). I’m trying to do great WORK.
Only the creator of something can decide if it’s great, nobody else. Greatness isn’t a badge that it given out by a committee. The creation might end up having meaning for others, and might become something that is considered great. But that’s not the point.
The point is to test the bounds of what it means to be a human. To move beyond our desire for safety, food, shelter, and procreation. To experience the singular feeling of creating something we can be immensely, deeply, fiercely proud of.
