Surpassing makes things better

"Rather than paying tribute to a master chef by achieving his perfection, you should use the same effort to surpass him."

At work, I have a motto, “Do/Be/Achieve what others can’t.”

However, when I was helping or coaching others at work, I disliked hearing them say, “someone has been doing this and doing just fine, so let’s get around it.”

That means I don’t think “others are doing it” is necessarily an issue as long as you have your own edge.

The two things, my motto and “don’t be afraid to try again,” sound contradictory, but they don’t indeed. On the contrary, they share a common idea:

Just do it better.

Be others can’t be, then you’re better.

Be competitive with what someone is doing, and then you’re better — than both your old self and others.

Being better doesn’t mean guaranteed success, but at least you’ll have a better chance and be worthy of your own efforts. If you’re not better or just on par, you’d have a better chance to fail since you’re just another “me too” at best.

There’s a line from a Japanese anime describing the struggle of a Sushi chef apprentice, namely “Shota no Sushi.” It goes like this:

Rather than paying tribute to a master chef by achieving his perfection, you should use the same effort to surpass him.

To real masters, the ultimate homage is to surpass them. Surpassing them makes the work, the art, and the world better.

So be all you can be, do something great, no matter if someone is doing it, and achieve what others can’t.

Surpassing makes things better.