The “Mundanity of Excellence”

The “Mundanity of Excellence” was coined by the sociologist Dan Chambliss. It says that really great performance often involves doing a lot of ordinary—even boring—tasks exceptionally over and over again, with the intention of trying to improve a little bit each time.

This ties in really neatly with the concept of “deliberate practice” as the improvement method in the book Peak by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool.

When I came across the Mundanity of Excellence, the phrase immediately resonated deeply with me, especially in foreign language learning. 

For example, while the Swedish language (or any other languages I’ve learned in the past, such as Italian or Norwegian) is exciting, the process of acquiring the skill is not. 

I spend lots of hours doing “mundane” tasks, which are routine, repetitious, and become rather dull and monotonous after a while. I practice speaking out loud the Swedish alphabet, repeating them over and over again. I practice writing simple sentences and sometimes repeatedly writing a tough word over and over again. These words become normal to me at some point. Still, I repeat them intentionally as part of my routine to improve a little more each time—exactly as mentioned in the opening paragraph of my post. 

What I’m doing is not to be mistaken as simply doing more of the same drills. Each time I do them, I’m looking to do them better. My mantra: Consistent practice, deliberate practice.

To me, it’s about doing the little things correctly and correctly each time they’re done (if possible!). Put in the effort, but not just any effort; it has to be the right amount and type of effort.

Note-to-self: Re-read Grit by Angela Duckworth.