This is a concept, which gained popularity from the book ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins. A lot has already been written on this topic but the more I think, the more I feel how relevant this is in every walk of life.

Rinsing your cottage cheese isn’t a proverb or an idiom; it draws its reference from a world-class athlete Dave Scott who won six Ironman triathlons. Despite burning over 5000 calories through exercise, he rinsed his cottage cheese to get rid of the extra fat, if any. That marked his dedication towards achieving his goal.

While Collins refers to this (in his book) in terms of organizational development, I look at it from an individual’s standpoint. It all depends on our hunger to reach perfection in whatever we do. Rinsing our cottage cheese would typically be that finishing touch we want to give to a piece of art, the plating we want to do for our deliciously cooked meal, learning that one last shot which we weren’t the best at for claiming to be a champion. Ever thought, when we dress, how important it is to add that pop of color or wear an accent piece or just add that one accessory that unifies the whole outfit. How would it have been had we not done our dress rehearsal before the final concert or not added that last quote which exemplified our speech?

The plating might not win us the cookery contest and the piece of accessory might not tag us as the most attractive one around. The point here lies in our endeavor to go that extra mile. It lies in our effort and commitment towards being disciplined to achieve or being super disciplined as Jim Collin says.

We need to introspect whether we work at our full capacity, whether what we do has anything less than a 100% involvement because we need to be the best version of ourselves and perfection is a perception, it might be difficult to attain but in its pursuit we just might end up moving from good to great. Mediocrity is the best to the eyes of the mediocre and excellence to the excellent.

Being good isn’t enough, being the best is what we need.