The Relentless Pursuit of Better

My guy Alex Prins was just featured on the Creatives POV podcast. As a general rule of thumb, if someone I know is on a podcast, I’m listening. Having been in that world for some time now, I know there’s something about that particular medium that brings a bit extra out of people. Perhaps it’s the intimacy of a podcast setting, or the storytelling nature of the format, but people usually share some interesting tidbits about their life that I didn’t already know. Alex’s episode was no different.

As I’m listening, all I could think about was Alex’s relentless pursuit of better. At every step of his young career, he could have said, “yeah, this is good enough.” Then, he could have promptly taken his foot off the gas and coasted for as long as possible. That could be a safe, comfortable, secure, and very normal way to approach his career. Truth is, it would have eventually made him miserable. Had he taken the easy way, he may have settled for an industry he wasn’t meant for. Or, he could have locked into a comfort zone and merely tolerated the work, constantly dreaming about the day when he could finally retire and “enjoy his life.” Either act would have equated to him sacrificing meaning and purpose for indifference and mediocrity.

To be honest, Alex has no idea how hard this path will be for him. It will most certainly be brutal at times. There will surely be days when he wishes he would just settle into “normal.” On the other side of the coin, Alex has no idea how amazing this journey is yet to become. He has 40-50 good years left in him, so he’s only midway through the first quarter of the game.

If Alex came to me tomorrow to tell me he’s joining the circus, I wouldn’t be surprised and I probably wouldn’t doubt him. He’s one of those people who practice the relentless pursuit of better. That’s never a straight line, and rarely goes how we think it should. It’s exciting, terrifying, and sometimes messy. It won’t always be pretty, but it will always be worth it.