"He cares too much about the work." People say it about me. They mean it as a gentle warning. I take it as confirmation.
The alternative
The alternative is caring the right amount. The professional amount. Enough to deliver, not enough to lose sleep.
I've tried that. The work suffers.
Why caring matters
Strategy is judgment. Judgment requires conviction. Conviction comes from caring enough to push past the first good-enough answer to find the real one.
- The first answer is usually safe
- The second answer is usually interesting
- The third answer, the one you get to at 11 PM when you've rejected everything else. That's the one that changes everything
The cost
Caring too much means:
- You argue for ideas others have moved on from
- You redesign slides at midnight because the hierarchy isn't right
- You think about a client's problem in the shower
But caring too much is also the only way I've found something true. Something the room goes quiet for. Something that actually works.
I'll keep caring too much.