“Good Enough”
What is Good Enough? Have you ever asked yourself this question?
We say it more often then we realize, and we say it more and more often.
Good Enough is the justifying moment that stops our work on something.
“I quit, what I have accomplished thus far is sustainable.”
Satisfactory… acceptable, but not perfect.
Not outstanding and not fulfilling one’s expectations.
Adequate… passable, sufficient.
You are only somewhat capable,
giving forth a reasonable effort…
But not very high and not very low…
somewhere in between…
and this sits well with you, your’e good with it,
content with your performance and your results.
I call it complacent mediocrity.
Lacking a bonafide attempt or commitment to excellence…
Good Enough, because it’s done, because you don’t want to work on it anymore.
Good Enough should mean, “I am proud of my work at this point. It cannot become any better than it is right now. It is perfect, it is my best effort. I am pleased with the results… and I release it.” This is where you can finally and confidently let it rest, and bask in your accomplishment, becoming at peace with it. You feel complete fulfillment in this moment.
However, some things are never good enough, you can work things too far. Like the baker who overworks his dough, it has now gone in the other direction and it cannot rise. It is now a little worse than it was in its best condition.
But the main problem today… the saddest thing that I have witnessed…
When I see the many things we begin and only “somewhat finish.”
It should become much more of a journey than that, verses just trying to reach an ending.
Did you truly reach the goal and achieve the intended outcome of the project or task that you originally began and committed yourself to? Or did it become too laborious and now you abandon it in a pathetic condition known as, “Good Enough?” Are you really satisfied with your effort and the outcome? Is that your best work? Are you sure? Are you forgetting or overlooking anything? Have you left it and come back to it another time? Several times?
Have you explored different perspectives or techniques in accomplishing your goal?
Did you get it right or is it simply Good Enough?
Be proud of yourself.
Have faith in yourself.
You are better than good enough.
Lose Good Enough from your vocabulary, the sooner the better…
When you truthfully ponder your effort, you will most likely think of the reasons why it is not good enough. Then you have to decide if you will make a commitment in continuing the quest for perfection. It becomes a decision about your personal character and what you can live with.
Others’ mediocre and average influences may also affect and hinder your level of personal satisfaction. Your self-expectations may have slipped. You can even blame it on bad wiring or misfortunate genetics. Maybe we all have a certain threshold to pain based on each of our individual life experiences. We each have different ideas of expectations, patience, pain… and “getting there.”
We possess a wide range of tolerances and intolerances.
We vary in our abilities to deal with them or not, “Are we there yet? Am I done with it yet?”
It is not a race.
Quickest to the finish line doesn’t come into the equation here.
The tortoise will always prevail.
You need to nurture the process.
Do you simply quit when it gets too difficult?
Do you judge your work on the amount of time or effort you put into it?
Effort is tough to measure…
Only you can do that, and only you will know how much was enough.
Do you take your interpretation of that personal effort and pop it into a mental math equation? A function that only you can comprehend and solve, justifying that it is indeed “good enough?”
A project or task gets only as much of our time and attention as we feel it is worth and how important we consider it to be.
You have to feel proud in the end…
The true wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
This can only be achieved when:
Effort, talent, diligence, determination, personal will and the quest for enlightenment intersect. A wonderful junction that allows you to appreciate and reflect upon your efforts and results. You are now capable of seeing the complete truth in yourself…
A brilliant work of art, whatever it may be, was created by you, in all truthfulness to yourself.
I’d like to expand more about this topic.
I wish I could word it better or say it better…
But in all honesty, I think it’s Good Enough.
by Steve Tieri