Some Thoughts on "Better"

In Better, A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande talks about the core requirements for success in medicine "or in any endeavor that involves risk and responsibility." These core requirements include diligence, doing right and ingenuity. I think these are very important qualities and I like how he supports his thesis. He defines them briefly, then divides his narrative into three sections where he illustrates each thru vignettes.

Diligence is the ability to pay attention to those details that matter, being vigilant and steadfast. To do right means to maintain integrity and be ethical which can be very difficult for us humans. Ingenuity is a cognitive skill that enables us to think in new ways.

The one quality that I think that we need to be truly successful that Gawande does not address in this book is the ability to dream, to imagine how we want to be if we could be our best selves. When we dream we open ourselves to our higher purpose, to what we are called to do as participants in this cosmic endeavor. "We are spiritual beings having a human experience," de Chardin pointed out. Our success is not simply dependent on our own qualities - only when we step into the Flow can we truly fulfill our purpose here.