There have been many times where I would either be doing house chores, working on a certain project, or even practicing my martial skills and will say, “that’s good enough” and then move on to the next task or activity. I’m certain I’m not alone in this sentiment, and it can easily creep into our lives if we are not careful. While what we have done may be technically satisfactory for the task at hand, there are certainly areas of improvement that could have been pursued had we given it a bit more effort.
“What’s wrong with good enough?” you might ask, and on the surface, nothing seems to be at issue. However, it may come about that the task you had just completed earlier needs some follow up, or the spot you thought was cleaned needed another look over, or perhaps you placed 2nd or 3rd place instead of 1st place in that forms competition. It’s not that you didn’t accomplish the task you had set out to do, but the results were influenced by how much effort or attention you put into it. This is the poison of “good enough”; it may bring momentary satisfaction, but it will always fall short of our expectations.
At my high school, the volleyball team had a peculiar motto: “good enough is neither”. While my brain was a bit triggered by the incomplete sentence, it sent a clear message: the coach and the team were not going to be satisfied with just “good enough”. In their mind, “good enough” was neither “good” nor “enough”, and that was exemplified in how they performed that year. That phrase has stuck with me and whenever I face a task where I’m tempted to say, “good enough”, I go back to that volleyball team’s motto and tell myself, “good enough is neither”.
Next time you find yourself practicing a form, or working on a particular skill, or even doing chores throughout the house, and your impulse says, “that’s good enough”, ask yourself the question: is it truly good? Is it truly enough? You may save yourself a lot of repeated effort and find that going that extra step pays dividends down the road. What tasks do you struggle with where you find yourself saying, “that’s good enough”?? If there are multiple activities where you find yourself saying this phrase, work on getting one activity beyond that “good enough” threshold, then work on the next. I still struggle in several aspects of my life where I say, “good enough”, so I am by no means above reproach in this area, but with help from friends I believe I’ve improved. As my high school volleyball team helped each other to achieve their vision, we can rely on those we trust to lift us above the “good enough” bar we set for ourselves.
