The Mundanity of Excellence

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Forty years ago, now retired professor of sociology Daniel Chambliss performed a field study in which he observed an elite swim team to figure out what it was that led to excellence in any endeavor. As Chambliss shared in a paper entitled “The Mundanity of Excellence,” the secret he discovered is that there really is no secret, and that success is more ordinary than mystical. As mundane as the factors and qualities that lead to excellence really are, they can still run contrary to what we sometimes think makes for high achievement. Today on the show, I unpack the sometimes unexpected elements of excellence with Daniel. We discuss how desire is more important than discipline, the central role of one’s social group and surrounding yourself with the best of the best, the outsized importance of the small things, why you need to make being good your job, why motivation is mundane, and why you need to keep a sense of mundanity even as you become excellent.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness
0:10.4	podcast 40 years ago now retired professor's sociology Daniel Chambliss performed a field study in which
0:16.7	he observed an elite swim team to figure out what it was that led to excellence in any endeavor.
0:22.0	As Chambliss shared in a paper entitled
0:23.6	The Mundanity of excellence,
0:25.2	the secret he discovered
0:26.3	is that there really is no secret,
0:28.0	and that success is more ordinary than mystical.
0:30.6	As mundane is the factors and qualities
0:32.3	that lead to excellence really are, they can still run contrary to what we sometimes think makes for high achievement.
0:37.0	Tay on the show, I unpack the sometimes unexpected elements of excellence with Daniel.
0:41.0	We discuss how desire is more important than
0:43.4	discipline, the central role of one's social group and surrounding yourself for the
0:46.7	best of the best, the outsized importance of the small things, why need to make
0:50.3	being good your job, why motivation is mundane, and why you need to keep a sense of
0:54.3	monanity even as you become excellent. After the show is over, check out our show notes at Awim.
0:58.7	IS slash excellence. The All right. Daniel Chambliss, welcome to the show.
1:17.0	Thanks, Brett.
1:18.6	Glad to be here.
1:20.2	So you are a sociologist, and early in your career you did a field study of
1:25.6	Olympic swimmers to figure out what made excellent swimmers excellent.
1:30.9	What was your interest in excellence and why did you choose to study
	...

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