“People underestimate the importance of dilligence as a virtue. No doubt it has something to do with how supremely mundane it seems. It is defined as "the constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken."... Understood, however, as the prerequisite of great accomplishment, diligence stands as one of the most difficult challenges facing any group of people who take on tasks of risk and consequence. It sets a high, seemingly impossible, expectation for performance and human behavior.”
Explore This Quote Further
Analysis
In this quote by Atul Gawande, the importance of diligence as a virtue is emphasized. Gawande points out how diligence is often overlooked because of its mundane nature, but stresses that it is the driving force behind great accomplishments. He highlights the challenge that diligence poses to individuals and groups, setting a high standard for performance and behavior. In this way, Gawande suggests that diligence is essential for taking on tasks of risk and consequence, serving as a foundation for success.
Modern Relevance of Diligence as a Virtue
In today's fast-paced world, where instant gratification and shortcuts are often celebrated, the virtue of diligence can be overlooked. Atul Gawande's insight on diligence as the constant and earnest effort to accomplish tasks resonates even more in the modern context where success is often equated with easy and quick wins. Let's explore why diligence remains a crucial virtue in achieving great accomplishments amidst challenges and risks.
Importance of Diligence
Atul Gawande highlights the importance of diligence as a virtue in achieving great accomplishments. He emphasizes how diligence is often overlooked due to its mundane nature, but it is essential for individuals and groups undertaking risky and consequential tasks.
“People underestimate the importance of dilligence as a virtue. No doubt it has something to do with how supremely mundane it seems. It is defined as "the constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken."... Understood, however, as the prerequisite of great accomplishment, diligence stands as one of the most difficult challenges facing any group of people who take on tasks of risk and consequence. It sets a high, seemingly impossible, expectation for performance and human behavior.” - Atul Gawande
Reflection Questions
As we reflect on the importance of diligence as a virtue, let's consider the following questions:
- How do you personally define diligence in your own life and work?
- Can you think of a time when diligence played a crucial role in achieving a significant accomplishment?
- What are some of the challenges you face in maintaining diligence in your daily tasks?
- How does the concept of diligence intersect with your values and beliefs?
- In what ways can you cultivate a mindset of diligence in pursuing your goals and aspirations?
Similar quotes
“The striking thing is that WHO doesn't really have the authority to do any of this. It can't tell governments what to do. It hires no vaccinators, distributes no vaccine. It is a small Geneva bureaucracy run by several hundred international delegates whose annual votes tell the organization what to do but not how to do it.…The only substantial resource that WHO has cultivated is information and expertise.”
“Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.”
“What is needed, however, isn't just that people working together be nice to each other. It is discipline.Discipline is hard--harder than trustworthiness and skill and perhaps even than selflessness. We are by nature flawed and inconstant creatures. We can't even keep from snacking between meals. We are not built for discipline. We are built for novelty and excitement, not for careful attention to detail. Discipline is something we have to work at.”
“In psychology, there's something called the broken-leg problem. A statistical formula may be highly successful in predicting whether or not a person will go to a movie in the next week. But someone who knows that this person is laid up with a broken leg will beat the formula. No formula can take into account the infinite range of such exceptional events.”
“Betterment is perpetual labor. The world is chaotic, disorganized, and vexing, and medicine is nowhere spared that reality. To complicate matters, we in medicine are also only human ourselves. We are distractible, weak, and given to our own concerns. Yet still, to live as a doctor is to live so that one's life is bound up in others' and in science and in the messy, complicated connection between the two It is to live a life of responsibility. The question then, is not whether one accepts the responsibility. Just by doing this work, one has. The question is, having accepted the responsibility, how one does such work well.”
“The important question isn't how to keep bad physicians from harming patient; it's how to keep good physicians from harming patients. Medical malpractice suits are a remarkably ineffective remedy.(In reference to a Harvard Medical Practice Study)... fewer than 2 percent of the patients who had received substandard care ever filed suit. Conversely, only a small minority among patients who did sue had in fact been victims of negligent care. And a patient's likelihood of winning a suit depended primarily on how poor his or her outcome was, regardless of whether that outcome was caused by disease or unavoidable risks of care. The deeper problem with medical malpractice is that by demonizing errors they prevent doctors from acknowledging & discussing them publicly. The tort system makes adversaries of patient & physician, and pushes each other to offer a heavily slanted version of events.”