Everything in Moderation?

I have heard the cliché “everything in moderation” for decades now.  I have heard it applied to a bunch of different things.  I will fully admit, that approaching things moderately in life, for me, has always been difficult. I, at one time, was the low/no-fat guy.  Trim the fat from the chicken breast, nothing fried, drain the fat from the ground beef, etc.  I have been the low carb guy also.  I have been the CrossFit guy, the “bodybuilding guy”, the bodyweight guy, and now the last few years, the weightlifting guy.  Each time I am given the whole moderation line.  Maybe they were right, maybe not. I have some issues with this idea of the moderate approach.  It may be OK, if the goal is mediocrity.  It seems to me that moderation and greatness, however, are not exactly two peas in a pod.  One cannot lead to the other.  But then on the other hand, few people (if any) cannot sustain a constant hard charging pace indefinately.  It would be difficult to keep a completely “clean” diet for years.  It would be very difficult to keep the same mundane, heavy squatting routine week after week, year after year.  These approaches usually start off very intensely and flame out and ultimately sink the participant.  However, I am not sure that multibillionaire Bill Gates approached business with the mindset of moderation.  The same goes for Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Peyton Manning, or any other extremely successful person.  After some deliberation, I have decided that moderation alone won’t make greatness, but neither will all - out effort in perpetuity.  I believe that in order to remain on track AND pursue greatness, the ideal is to approach your given task “in moderation” with bouts of “excess”.  From a nutritional approach, eat “cleanish” for 3 months and eat super clean for 1 month.  Train moderately for 6 months and train like an animal for 3 months.  Work your 40 hours for a month, then try to kill it for a couple of weeks.  Good luck!