I like this line from Ralph Waldo Emerson (Self-Reliance):
"Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
The trouble with orienting ourselves around being the "best" is that "best" is always anchored within a conventional, well-defined standard.
But even our idols, the ones our culture considers "best" started out by doing something very unusual.
I like this line from Ralph Waldo Emerson (Self-Reliance):
"Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
The trouble with orienting ourselves around being the "best" is that "best" is always anchored within a conventional, well-defined standard.
But even our idols, the ones our culture considers "best" started out by doing something very unusual.
(P.S. wrote a little about this here, in regards to innovation: https://newsletter.thewayofwork.com/p/innovation)
Really, really good quote. :)