Good Enough

How did we get so good at doing just enough work to get by? I see this form of self-sabotage all the time and often notice it in myself. We aren't pushing forward as hard as we can. We aren't changing things to make them better. We aren't holding other people accountable when they refuse to do the best work possible. Mediocrity is becoming the norm in every industry.

"Good enough" needs to be eliminated from our lexicon. This doesn't mean we have to strive for perfection in everything we do, but we should constantly search to improve what we offer. "Good enough" eliminates the need for new ideas and new ways to offer services. As we have embraced this idea of things being "good enough", we have seen the quality services and products offered decline. The exceptions to this are the outliers, the companies and people who realize "good enough" really isn't.

Making changes, pushing the envelope, striving for greatness...these are the ideas pushing innovation and allowing some people and companies to stand above the rest. When you receive exceptional service or find a breathtaking product, "good enough" never entered the minds of those offering the service or designing and building the product. They realized consumers will pay for the exceptional. In fact, even if we don't know it, we crave the exceptional. In the days of big box stores and large quantities of cheap crap proliferating homes, this may be hard to believe, but we do crave the exceptional.

Striving for the exceptional does not mean you have wait to offer your services or products until you know you have something exceptional. Stick you neck out there and see what happens. Learn from others. Figure out what works and what doesn't. If something doesn't work, change it. If something does work, see if there are ways to make it work better. Don't dwell on mistakes or causes of problems, learn quickly, think on your feet and improve things. You are never going to be perfect, but I am sure you can offer something better than what is out there now.

Do you really want to be known as "good enough"?

It Isn't Always Easy

Being great at what you do doesn't come easily. When other people are slacking off, you have to suck it up and do the work. When other people quit because something is too hard, you push through to succeed. When other people just get the task done, you do it well. When other people complain, you smile and keep on trucking. When other people blame the world for things going wrong, you don't play the blame game and instead keep doing great work. When other people fear failure, you take everything as a learning experience.

Being great at what you do doesn't come easily, but it is worth all the effort.

Endurance

Moving from good to great isn't usually about talent or who you know or what you do (though these can all help), it is about endurance. It is about putting in the work when it becomes difficult or monotonous or terrifying. You can have all the talent in the world, but without the ability to push through, to find your second (or third or fourth) wind, you will not be able to move to the next level. Are you willing to put in the work?

It takes 10,000 hours of practice to truly master something. This could be a sport or a musical instrument or writing or surgery or anything else you can think of. To reach greatness, you have to put in a lot of time and a lot of work. Much of this work may require you to toil in obscurity. You have to be able to get up each morning and force yourself to do whatever it is you need to do to become great. You need the motivation to continue to practice when no one is looking. You need the motivation to practice, no matter what is happening in your life. You have to put in the work, even if the people around you think you are nuts. You have to ignore the naysayers and do what needs to be done.

Most people do not have the endurance to do this. This endurance requires confidence, drive, love and determination. Moving from good to great requires you to put in the work, but putting in the work does not always mean you will move from good to great. This is why many people choose to quit. If there isn't a reachable goal, they tend to pull up and move to something else. For other people, the putting in the work, the practice, the difficulty are the the goal. They want to be great, but they know they may not get there. They love the hard work and have the hope of getting better and better, but know they will never be perfect. For them, the journey is more important than the destination. This gives them the endurance to continue on, in spite of the difficulty, the criticism, the doubt. Do you have the endurance for the chance at greatness? Or, would you rather play it safe?