EXACT IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM APROXIMATE

Christmas Eve, writing an article only makes sense if it's connected to the moment. I'm not a traditionalist, but I respect traditions because they are full of good and bad lessons.

Watching my daughter, who is a very good videographer and makes videos for companies all over the world, dealing with people's attitudes, a phrase occurred to me: are you the type who does exactness or approximation? Let me explain... She was dealing with the demand of a person who handles traffic at the agency, and it wasn't the person she was used to. And she realized that the person was more accustomed to the process than to the final result. The problem was simple: producing a video without both the necessary content and the appropriate script. In her view, super technical and detail-oriented, the final result would fall short of what was desired. For the traffic person, the important thing was to deliver.

That's when this phrase occurred to me: do you seek exactness or approximation? If you're going to make a New Year's resolution, this attitude will make all the difference. Cortella says that we shouldn't do what's possible or even the best possible, but our best. In short, that's the difference between exact and approximate.

It's no use wanting better opportunities, earning more, better clients or projects if you're content with 99%, if you think 4.85 and 5 are the same. Not everything in life allows for exactness, and we have to deal with that. And we won't always be able to go beyond approximation. Because not everything is exact and precise, not everything is exactly as we want it to be or as it should be. Thank goodness.

The issue is one of attitude. If you're a top-tier salesperson, you'll only be happy if you exceed the target by at least 10%, to avoid the margin of error. If you're mediocre, you'll rest when you reach 90%. If you create a campaign, a great ad is very different from a 90% ad. Especially in things that aren't measurable, a small margin of error is enough to turn a good song into a bad one, a great movie into garbage, and so on. The less mathematically inclined, the more accuracy matters. Curious, isn't it?

Think of neurosurgery, and I have a friend who's a whiz at it. If he's content with 99% accuracy when making an incision, he'll be between absolute success and the patient's brain death. Tense, right? That's why a surgeon should be highly rewarded, because a mistake can be the difference between life and death.

This also applies to engineering, but there are many calculations and tools to prevent errors. In fact, there's a brilliant story about a skyscraper in New York that illustrates the difference between approximation and precision. During the design phase, with all the calculations done, the building was 100% safe, despite using an innovative structure without corner pillars (due to the site, which housed a church). The problem is that, during construction, instead of welding, the person in charge of the project decided to replace welding with bolts, which solved the problem faster and cheaper. The problem is that the person in charge didn't consider wind gusts of 120 km/h hitting the corners of the building. In that case, the torsion process would be so violent that, instead of 4 bolts in each joint, 30 bolts would have to be used, which was unfeasible. The solution was expensive and complicated, but in the end everything worked out. As I said, despite a small error, the situation could have been chaotic, and the savings turned into a headache.

But in life, not everything is like that. In a poorly performed surgery, you can't simply cut again. And, when there's no risk of death, the difference between "more or less" and "perfect" becomes very difficult to measure. Therefore, if you live by approximation, choose a profession where the margin of error can be calculated precisely. Which is a paradox.

Otherwise, opt for precision. Any New Year's resolution will be easier if you seek that precision, that dedication. Do the best you can, and you will discover that this "best" improves when you pursue improvement. Those who don't evolve don't stop: they regress. In nature and in the business world, there is no stagnation: those who stop are falling behind.

Fernando Pessoa said: to navigate is necessary, to live is not necessary. Therefore, in this imprecision, be the caliper that measures millimeters, but not the process, the rule. Seek precision in the quality of your work, in the delivery of the result. Don't allow room for mediocrity.