2 Types of Excellence

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to get better at things. I agree with Aristotle that excellence itself, rather than money or status, is the aim worth pursuing.

Recently, I’ve been thinking that the concept of excellence itself hides a subtle distinction. That is, there are different ways something can be considered great, and knowing which makes a big difference in how you pursue it.

The first is to think of excellence as a universal standard. To get 99% is more excellent than 95%. A+ beats A. Selling a million copies beats a hundred thousand. In each case…