He said that during this rebuilding process I probably would not be able to sink more than one ball in a row. My game would stink. I wasn't ready to pay that price. I wasn't willing to sacrifice performance for perfection. I don't know of any biologist willing to sacrifice performance for perfection.
Performance is everything.
Without performance a biologist will lose grants, teaching position, job offers, everything that goes with the occupation. You see science has become an occupation. Science has not always been the cool and groovy money maker it is today. One can even dream about a time when people pursued it as an avocation. Unfortunately pursuit of science as an avocation without training is worthless.