I would rather ask this if there was a Stacks site for Literature. But, I need to ask it here:
I am searching for a mythical or fictional (and if there is one, historical) figure (or tale, or animal, or object) whose tale is often cited when one needs to emphasize constant improvement or dogged persistence in doing your task (even at the cost of seeing it partially or totally undone and having to re-do it all-over again).
The closest I can think of is Sisyphus' punishment, but I am looking for something which is more positive and meaningful, and which gives a sense of accumulation of experience from this constantly repeating arduous activity.
Google searches for constant improvement often results in kaizen, Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. This is not bad, but it usually comes with a baggage of business model connotations and already has specific elements or references of implementation. Also, kaizen is often used as a team model, but I am looking for a solitary or individual example.
I would appreciate all your help and answers.
- I wrote mythological, or fictional, or historical, but I am open to anything relevant religious or scientific tales, symbols or examples as well.
- (Please ignore the tag, because I could not create new tags.)