okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Monday, May 14, 2007
Another medical book with relevance to orienteering
People underestimate the importance of diligence as a virtue. No doubt this has something to do with how supremely mundane it seems. It is defined as "the constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken." There is a flavor of simplistic relentlessness to it. And if it were an individual's primary goal in life, that life would indeed seem narrow and unambitious.
The quote is from Atul Gawande's new book Better: a surgeon's notes on performance. The theme of the book is performance. The setting is medicine. But the ideas are applicable to different settings...like orienteering. You should have no trouble recognizing the idea that diligence as an underestimated virtue applies to people who train for orienteering.
You can learn more about Gawande at his web page and by checking out his appearance on Booktv.org. Better yet, go to the library or bookstore and pick up the book.
