Some blog posts you bookmark.
Some blog posts make you want to write your own.
Excellence Isn’t Optional Anymore. It’s the Standard. by Will Schmierer is the second type.
I read it. Then I sat with it for a while. Then I had to say something.
I have a private graveyard on my laptop.
Projects I built, tools I shipped to myself, ideas I actually executed on. But never shared. Because they didn’t feel good enough. Not polished enough. Not up to some invisible standard I couldn’t name.
Will names it clearly:
Excellence doesn’t mean working all the time. It means refusing to do shitty work when you are working.
That line hit differently for me. Because I realized I’ve been confusing two things.
There’s “not good enough to ship.” And there’s “not as good as someone else’s version 10.”
Most of my private projects are version 1. I was comparing them to someone’s version 10 and calling it failure.
Here’s what I’ve started to understand.
Excellence isn’t a destination. It’s a direction.
You do your first design. That becomes your best work. Then you do the next one. Now that becomes your best work. The previous one is still good. It just has a successor.
This compounds quietly. You don’t notice it in the moment. But look back six months and it’s obvious.
I’m a developer. I’m not a designer. For a long time, that was a reason not to try. Now I see it differently. I consult designers when I need to. I study good design when I have time. My first attempt at anything visual is rough. My third is better. My fifth is something I’d actually show someone.
That’s not talent. That’s direction.
Will also talks about the people around you.
Excellence is contagious. So is mediocrity.
This isn’t about being elitist. It’s about being honest with yourself about your environment. Who are you building alongside? Who reviews your work? Who pushes back when you’re settling?
Seth Godin calls it remarkable work: work worth talking about. Work that spreads because the work itself does the work.
Excellence and remarkable are cousins. Both require you to care enough to go one step further than comfortable.
Here’s the practical part, the thing I’m actually changing.
I used to ask: Is this ready?
Now I ask: Is this better than my last version?
If yes, it ships.
AI is also useful here in a way most people miss. Not for generating. For evaluating. I have a skill in Claude that gut-checks my drafts. It tells me what’s working and what isn’t. Not a publisher. A thinking partner before the work goes public.
That’s a different relationship with AI than most people have.
Will had a stroke at 37. Pushed himself out of a wheelchair into running marathons. Nobody did it for him.
I’m not comparing situations. But the principle transfers.
The drive has to come from within. Not for recognition. Not for approval. For yourself, to prove you can do better than you did before. Then do it again.
My son Vian is watching. Not now, he’s too young. But someday.
That’s the standard I want to build toward. Not perfect. Better. Consistently, quietly, relentlessly better.
Start small. Do it better than you did it before. Ship that. Then do the next one.
Excellence isn’t optional anymore.
It never was.
Read the original post that sparked this: Excellence Isn’t Optional Anymore. It’s the Standard. by Will Schmierer
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