The Extra Mile
It is said that success results from going the extra mile. While this is generally true, many people will choose just enough success over massive success. The extra mile is seen as extra stress. A path that can be taken but not necessarily taken. It’s important to note that while going the extra mile can be more stressful and gruesome, it is the path that separates the best from those who are just good enough. It’s the path of masters and legends. It is the path you should be taking.
Let’s analyze an example of students acing their exams. Most students who just study the class material for the sake of passing end up passive with B and C grades, but students who go beyond the class material to understand the bigger picture in detail usually end up with the A grade. While this example isn’t globally consistent and depends on the course of study, the course instructor and the students, it goes to show that the extra mile is a sure way to success.
Choosing to go the extra mile means choosing to face all the suffering that comes with it. This is consistent with what Mark Manson says in chapter 4 (The Value of Suffering) of the book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. It summarizes to “We all suffer but your happiness lies in what suffering you choose to face”.
Going the “Smart” Extra Mile
While it is generally believed that hard work translates to success, a new belief has stemmed up in recent times. This is the idea that smart work, not hard work, bring the most success. In a situation where one has to paint a road, one can choose to manually paint for hours or use a road painting machine to get the job done.
Smart work and technology follow the same principle: doing more with less. Increasing efficiency while decreasing resource use.
Doing the Extra Mile Thing Right
The right way to go the extra mile is to chase efficiency. If one continuously chases efficiency, they naturally look like they are working smart. Chasing efficiency is essentially looking for a better way to complete a task that uses fewer resources and produces better output.
Avoiding Being the Perfectionist
You are in a cooking competition. You have prepared the perfect meal. Everyone loves it, even the staunchest of the judges. However, you don’t feel satisfied. You aim for something better. It doesn’t matter how much more you optimize at that point, but you still choose to. This is the behaviour of the typical perfectionist. You keep optimizing even if further optimization brings no further improvement.
In your quest to go the extra mile, you should avoid being the perfectionist. Once you have reached the optimal state, you can stop there and go solve a different problem.
Wrap Up
It’s hard to go the extra mile. It’s hard to choose the suffering that comes with that path. It’s even more difficult to keep pushing in that path. In all these difficulties, you have to realize that going the extra mile is the only way to stand out from the crowd. So next time when you're wondering why you didn’t achieve something at some desired level, check for the extra mile path you didn’t take. Also, when you want to be sure of success, look for the extra mile path and take it.
