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Is a "good enough" attitude ever really "good enough"?
You have completed the job/task but you know you could have done it better.
The attitude that says it's not perfect but it is good enough.
Is a "good enough" attitude ever really "good enough"? What's your view.
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The attitude that says it's not perfect but it is good enough.
Is a "good enough" attitude ever really "good enough"? What's your view.
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October 18, 2009 08:27 AM
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I'm a perfectionist. Not the ordinary type, but rather the type that if I can't do it exactly perfectly the way I want, I won't do anything at all. I either end up spending inordinate amounts of time perfecting something that will never be perfect or I'll do nothing at all.
It's taken me a lot of time and patience on my part and the parts of my family to learn that it's okay to let some things go and learn when.
So... do I always give 100%? No. But I do try to temper it with: does this REALLY require 100%?
Some things are important and they need your very best effort, period.
There are others things that just don't, and if you try to do everything 110%, the things that really do matter will get neglected in the minutia of the things that don't matter as much.
So sometimes, good enough is good enough. Other times, good enough just doesn't cut it. It's all a matter of priorities and perspective, IMO.
Good question!
It's taken me a lot of time and patience on my part and the parts of my family to learn that it's okay to let some things go and learn when.
So... do I always give 100%? No. But I do try to temper it with: does this REALLY require 100%?
Some things are important and they need your very best effort, period.
There are others things that just don't, and if you try to do everything 110%, the things that really do matter will get neglected in the minutia of the things that don't matter as much.
So sometimes, good enough is good enough. Other times, good enough just doesn't cut it. It's all a matter of priorities and perspective, IMO.
Good question!
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October 18, 2009 09:22 AM
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Yes, there is. As a contractor, 'good enough' is often the most efficient and effective approach. The customer pays for something, and gets what he/she wants at the best price. If I would perform 'above and beyond', either the customer would have to pay more (because I spent more time on it), or my employer would have less profit, if the task was assigned 'fixed price'.
Also, performing just good enough is also a way of 'training' that customer. If he always gets more than requested, that customer becomes spoilt, and will not be happy if the next time you perform good, but not 'better'.
Either way, aiming for 'good enough' is exactly the right strategy for both employer and customer in these cases.
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Also, performing just good enough is also a way of 'training' that customer. If he always gets more than requested, that customer becomes spoilt, and will not be happy if the next time you perform good, but not 'better'.
Either way, aiming for 'good enough' is exactly the right strategy for both employer and customer in these cases.
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October 18, 2009 04:10 PM
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It depends. Is their idea of "good enough" the same as your idea of "good enough"? The supervisor's idea of "good enough"? In that case, sure. As long as you're on the same page about what you're getting, then things are fine.
Often, though, this isn't the case, and their idea of "good enough" is somewhat less than yours. This is where problems arise. You might have heard the expression "good is the enemy of great." While I'm not sure I completely agree with it, when someone's defining "good" as "the absolute bare minimum needed to be acceptable, perhaps with some corners cut" -- and a lot of people do -- when you define it as "solid work," then there's a problem.
How do you figure this out? You can try talking to the person, but they might not give you a decent answer. Fortunately, in this case, actions speak louder than words. What is this person's work like, and is it up to the quality that you're expecting? That's what really counts.
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Often, though, this isn't the case, and their idea of "good enough" is somewhat less than yours. This is where problems arise. You might have heard the expression "good is the enemy of great." While I'm not sure I completely agree with it, when someone's defining "good" as "the absolute bare minimum needed to be acceptable, perhaps with some corners cut" -- and a lot of people do -- when you define it as "solid work," then there's a problem.
How do you figure this out? You can try talking to the person, but they might not give you a decent answer. Fortunately, in this case, actions speak louder than words. What is this person's work like, and is it up to the quality that you're expecting? That's what really counts.
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October 18, 2009 08:51 PM
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Yes, "good enough" is good enough in many areas if you intend to live a balanced life. There's one level of effort required in heart surgery, another in keeping leaves swept off the back porch, and only people with obsessive compulsive disorder can't discern the difference.
Every individual only has so much time and energy in every day, and prioritizing how to spend those hours and where to spend your energy results in some tasks taking a back seat to others. My mother used the old phrase "a cat lick and a promise" for the things that needed a little attention to keep life moving along, but weren't all that important in the greater scheme of things.
At the risk of sounding like one of those corny emails, what if you knew you had xxx amount of time left to live? Would you really spend any of it sweeping the basement steps?
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Every individual only has so much time and energy in every day, and prioritizing how to spend those hours and where to spend your energy results in some tasks taking a back seat to others. My mother used the old phrase "a cat lick and a promise" for the things that needed a little attention to keep life moving along, but weren't all that important in the greater scheme of things.
At the risk of sounding like one of those corny emails, what if you knew you had xxx amount of time left to live? Would you really spend any of it sweeping the basement steps?
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