Today’s installment of “Music Mondays” was requested by my dad (by the way, if you have not done so yet, check out his art at his website - all available for purchase). I think this song is an awesome choice and it reminded me how much I like Amos Lee. So, let’s consider a couple of his tracks.
“Somethings gotta give with the way I'm living
Seems I'm getting down everyday
The more I strive, the less I'm alive
And seems I'm getting further away”
How many of you resonate with this sentiment from Amos Lee’s song “Supply and Demand”?
I know that I do. I certainly agree with Aristotle that it is “hard work to be excellent” (spoudaios). [By the way, that is perhaps my favorite word! I think we all need to lean a bit more into spoudaios].
It makes sense that excellence would be hard work. I mean, by definition excellence is a kind of superlative. It is uncommon. Importantly, though, excellence is not an achievement. It is more a matter of patient virtue than of algorithmic obtainment. 10,000 hours might make you really good at something, but excellence is not about being really good, it is about remaining committed. It is about unwavering investment.
Ok, so excellence is hard work, but not everything is about excellence, right? Sometimes, the hope is just to keep moving at all. More often than not, we are doing our best just to be “good enough.” Why in the heck does THAT have to be such hard work too?!?
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