Commitment makes good things better and bad things worse. The more “all-in” you are on a good relationship, the better it becomes. The more you comm… - James Clear

It can be a great advantage to
(1) be somewhat restless and
(2) have very high standards.

Holding yourself to a high standard prevents you from jumping into whatever new thing comes your way. It encourages you to be thoughtful and ensures you remain patient for the right opportunity.

However—because you are somewhat restless—you are always digging around and watching for opportunities. When most people stop searching, you continue to explore. And when an opportunity comes your way that meets your standard, you'll be more likely to notice it and more likely to act upon it immediately.

A practical definition of opportunity cost:

If you spend too much time working on good things, then you don't have much time left to work on great things.

Understanding opportunity cost means eliminating good uses of time. And that's what makes it hard.

Whether or not something is deemed a "failure" is dependent on when performance is measured.

I signed the book deal for Atomic Habits in November 2015 and it was published in October 2018. If you were to measure the performance of the book at any point during those three years, the project would have been deemed a failure. In January 2016? It was incomplete. A failure. In August 2017? Still unfinished. A failure. In February 2018? Again, a failure.

But after October 2018, it looked like a success. Same project. Different time when the outcome was measured.

This idea applies in many areas of life. You're not failing. You're just in the middle of succeeding.