Your professor was full of shit. The saying is "any thing worth doing is worth doing well", and you're waaaay over thinking this diatribe. Live life, make yourself happy, treat others as you would have them treat you,...that is all, next broadcast ...in Time.
I see you've never been severely depressed.
@tnorman1236 Are you kidding? I'm a war veteran, with layered PTSD, raised in a military household by a southern baptist Preacher. I've learned to trick my depression and see things clearly. If I hadn't learned these tools , I would have been gone a long time ago. Nobody loves you like you. Self talk is all there really is.
@MerlinZap Whatever works.