Making Peace With "Good Enough"

We are taught rather insistently that we should always strive for excellence; to be the best at whatever it is that we're working on. And it makes sense, of course.

When I was a kid and young man, I was repeatedly taught the value and importance of always doing my best. To this day, I still believe that to be one of my most important lifelessons.

So why am I suddenly talking about "good enough?"

In the midst of all this excellence chatter, there's also an old truism — which, in fact, I have found to be spot on — that "perfectionism is the enemy of creativity!"

I write those words as someone who has experienced being a victim of my own perfectionistic tendencies.

There are many points in life where "good enough" is actually good enough, because trying to do something any better makes absolutely no difference to the outcome!

It's actually something relatively common, particularly among artists and creative people.

Have you ever met or known an artist who claimed to always be "working on" a painting or a sculpture, but never seemed able to finish it because there was always "something missing?" Or have you encountered a writer who had been "working on" their book manuscript for 10 years and never was ready to submit it for publication, in spite of having completed dozens of rewrites?

Maybe you even recognize yourself in such a scenario?

The point here being that we tend to reach a point where something simply has to be "good enough," or we will never actually finish; never actually reach our stated goal.

Typically, there is actually something else at work, in such situations.

In my case — for example — I grew up with hypercritical parents, and so the safe state of being was to have things "in the works" rather than finished, and using the excuse "I want it to be perfect" was actually a positive, in the sense that I was showing dedication to doing my very best.

Mostly, though, it was just a psychological tool I used to avoid having to be told that I had "fallen short."

I didn't want to disappoint!

Of course, none of us generally want to disappoint... but occasional disappointments are an inevitable part of life. And if we try to avoid such situations completely, we run the risk of avoiding life, completely!

The thing I have learned to (reluctantly!) admit is that I actually get so much more done when I allow myself to simply do a "really good" job, as opposed to a perfect job on whatever I am working on. It can even be something as simple as obsessing over a Steemit post for hours, rather than just letting it go after it looks... good.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful rest of your week!

How about you? Do you have perfectionistic tendencies? Do you sometimes work on things longer than you really need to? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.12.04 00:10PST
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