Name: Embrace the near win
Uploaded: 2014-04-21T15:04:10Z
Duration: 11 min 27 s
Description: At her first museum job, art historian Sarah Lewis noticed something important about an artist she was studying: Not every artwork was a total masterpiece. She asks us to consider the role of the almost-failure, the near win, in our own lives. In our pursuit of success and mastery, is it actually our near wins that push us forward?

At her first museum job, art historian Sarah Lewis noticed something important about an artist she was studying: Not every artwork was a total masterpiece. She asks us to consider the role of the almost-failure, the near win, in our own lives. In our pursuit of success and mastery, is it actually our near wins that push us forward?

Embrace the near win

Progress comes not from flawless triumph but from the drive sparked by nearly reaching a goal. Olympic silver medalists, for example, feel more compelled than bronze medalists to compete again because they came so close to victory. Artists like Cézanne and Kafka saw their celebrated works as incomplete, channeling restlessness into lifelong pursuit. Mastery, the talk argues, is not about arriving at perfection but about embracing the motivation found in almost getting there.