![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/quilt600.jpg\" "\\"quilt600\\"")
<\/a>variations as the design element in her quilts. \u00a0I asked Kate if she had any interest in learning to dye and she said no, quilting and piecing were what interested her.<\/p>\nKate’s made a decision not unlike R.J.’s, an intentional choice to limit her range of interest in the service of getting higher and higher quality out of her work. \u00a0It’s a strategy some of the most creative folks apply, going back to the same well over and over again, though with infinite variation in treatment.<\/p>\n
It may see obvious to you, probably does, but to me this is anathema. \u00a0And probably to my detriment. \u00a0I’ve written before about the valedictory life, the kind of life lived by valedictorians. \u00a0Once in awhile I check up on research about this topic because I was a valedictorian in the long ago faraway. \u00a0Mostly valedictorians don’t become famous experts, great writers or over achieving corporate climbers.<\/p>\n
Why? \u00a0Because to be a valedictorian, you have to pay similar attention to all the classes that you take. \u00a0Or, at the least, in those classes that don’t come easiest, you still have exert enough effort to get an A or 4.0. \u00a0Apparently that style continues throughout life for most valedictorians. \u00a0That means we don’t achieve the kind of focus that designs the first computer, tracks down the most efficient way to manage information, builds the deep knowledge to become an artisan in cloth or paint.<\/p>\n
Nope, we’re happily reading Scientific American, being a docent at a museum, writing a novel, translating Latin, putting in a vegetable and flower garden, doing all of these things at a reasonably high level but not high enough to stand out. \u00a0This is a hard life to accept, in one way, when achievement has been important, but it tends to not be the type of world beater achievement others expected. \u00a0On the other hand it meshes pretty well with the good enough life. \u00a0Good enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lugnasa \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hiroshima Moon When Kate and I visited our money in July, our financial planner, R.J. Devick, made an interesting observation. \u00a0Responding … Continue reading Good Enough<\/span>