Executive summary: Caring about excellence is a valuable motivating force that can lead to more impactful work and personal growth, particularly in areas like effective altruism and existential risk reduction.
Key points:
The pursuit of excellence provides intrinsic motivation and satisfaction, driving improvement in important areas.
Excellence-focused growth is healthier than growth for its own sake, avoiding pitfalls like excessive polishing of flawed ideas.
In x-risk work, striving for excellence means improving communities and thinking rather than fixating on grand theories.
Excellence differs from perfectionism; it elevates strengths rather than obsessing over eliminating all flaws.
Caring about excellence is valuable because it robustly improves understanding, increases influence through quality, and develops personal judgment.
Practical techniques for pursuing excellence include staying connected to core motivations, seeking complementary collaborators, and soliciting critical feedback.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Caring about excellence is a valuable motivating force that can lead to more impactful work and personal growth, particularly in areas like effective altruism and existential risk reduction.
Key points:
The pursuit of excellence provides intrinsic motivation and satisfaction, driving improvement in important areas.
Excellence-focused growth is healthier than growth for its own sake, avoiding pitfalls like excessive polishing of flawed ideas.
In x-risk work, striving for excellence means improving communities and thinking rather than fixating on grand theories.
Excellence differs from perfectionism; it elevates strengths rather than obsessing over eliminating all flaws.
Caring about excellence is valuable because it robustly improves understanding, increases influence through quality, and develops personal judgment.
Practical techniques for pursuing excellence include staying connected to core motivations, seeking complementary collaborators, and soliciting critical feedback.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.