GOOD ENOUGH, ISN’T

How many times, while doing something you really love, have you said “that's good enough”? My guess is, probably not too many. When you have a passion for something you tend to do it as well as you can. You feel an obligation to yourself to get it right.

Here’s an interesting idea. What if you applied the same thought process to everything you did? It is very simple. Good enough, isn’t.

Nothing is ever good enough. Being good enough does not imply that there is no room for growth. Instead, it says that there is no need or desire for growth. It is basically a polite way of saying, “I give up.” Don’t be pathetic. Only pathetic people give up. Don’t plan to lose. Only losers believe that being the same tomorrow is a good plan for happiness. Get off your butt and figure out what “good” truly means and then keep striving until you reach it.

Does this mean than nothing will ever be finished? No. Does it mean that you can never be satisfied or feel a sense of accomplishment? Of course not. What it means is that you should never quit. If you design a building to be four stories high, and the guy in the next lot decides he’ll build one nine stories high, it does not mean that you have failed. If you decided at the beginning that four floors will suit your needs, then your building is fine. If you decided that nine floors would have been best, but for whatever reason, you could only build four, then shame on you. If the guy in the next lot can do it, then you could have too. Unfortunately, life only gives us one chance at a lot of things. If we do not do something our best the first time, we may never get another chance.

I dropped out of college halfway through my junior year. I had been a music major, but due to injury could no longer play. I had spent the final three semesters of school majoring in business, but was uninspired and did not have a mentor or guide to help push me toward a new goal. I figured I was smart and good at sales so a took a job that was good enough. I made three times more than my friends who stayed in college. I drove a better car. I had nicer clothes.

Six years later I was in a new entry level position, starting out all over again. I took a huge pay cut and learned a new industry. I quickly moved up through the ranks and became known as one of the best in my industry. While all of this was happening, my college classmates became leaders in the dotcom craze and made millions.

Simultaneously, people who started college ten years after me, were moving up through management on the basis of their degrees, talents AND skill sets. Without a degree, I was soon working for people much younger than me and clawing to find a path for advancement. My “good enough” decision in 1991 had lead to its inevitable conclusion fifteen years later.

This posting should have been written in 1995, but I was selling clothes. It should have been written in 2000, but I was trying to find my way back to a place where my soul was allowed to speak out loud. I have finally gotten around to it. It is never too late to better than good enough.

Trust me. Define good, or even great, and then do not stop until you have reached it. Good enough isn’t. Not ever.