Let's say you make surgical instruments. Or software that controls surgical instruments. Or embedded software for radar detectors. Or vinyl yard signs.

And let's say you're among the best, making what you make. You're so good that you've never met anyone better. You are provably, demonstrably among the best of the best.

Whatever you make, there are physical, regulatory and economic limits on how good that thing can possibly be. In this environment, you're so good that there just isn't enough hose capacity to accept the flow of brain power and competence from you to the product. You're the best, and given the above limitations, some portion of your ability is going to waste, spilling out all over the universe. You're overkill. You are so the best that someone else who is almost the best could probably make the exact same thing, and not as much of them will spill all over the place.

So now, there are two facts. One, you're the best. And two, thousands of people have used and benefited from your product. Their surgeon's job was easier, and he had more success than without your product. People beat speed traps. Houses were sold quickly. Which fact has improved the world more, your "being the best," or the outcomes for all those thousands of people. And remember, those products didn't actually require someone to be the best to get essentially the same outcome.

Pick up "being the best," and hold it in your palm. Rub you fingers over it. (Yes, it's a real thing, this "being the best." I'm not making a metaphor.) Hold it up and rub it with your cheek. Damn, being the best feels good.

But there's also this new guy in the field, at this other company, and dammit if he isn't the best now. You look all over the apartment for your being the best, and it just isn't there anymore.

If your goal is to be the best, you may actually be the best for a time. And you'll make things. And lots of other people will work with you, who are in no way the best but still without a doubt good enough to walk in the door every day. In fact, you couldn't possibly have made those things without the help of all those people who are not the best. In facter, you might actually be one of those other people, and not the best. And you'll all, together, make things, which people will use and enjoy. And all of those people will forever have had the experience of making the thing that you and your colleagues made, even if your being the best didn't last as long, or if you never actually had a being the best.

Now that we've read this far, I feel like our relationship is strong enough that I can say this. And I'm just sayin', but ... I think this wanting to be the best is something of a fetish. I don't think it's healthy. In fact, you might think it's driving you forward, but we all think it's holding you back. We're concerned. We'd like you to stop torturing your self over wondering about being the best, and distorting your career choices. Most of us have found that there's a lot of satisfaction in thinking about the impact of our efforts on the people who use our products. Most of the rest of us are not the best, we merely strive to be the best that each of us can be. And that's pretty good. We're happy, and the people who use our products are happy.

We'd like you to be happy too.