The Space between Perfection and “Good Enough”

I, like many of you, struggle with some form of perfectionism.

In my case, it isn’t so much that I expect to to get everything perfect, down to all of the fine details. It’s more that I have an often impossibly high standard that I set for myself in order to feel pride in my accomplishment.

So today, I want to give you a quick piece of advice, courtesy of my most recent therapy session.

If you know that perfection is neither truly attainable, nor a pursuit that is particularly healthy over the long term. And if you likewise feel that the term “good enough” feels a bit too much like settling or giving up relative to your ambition or self expectations. Then I’d like to offer you what I’m finding is a feel good space in between those two options.

It’s a place where you have a healthy relationship toward the pursuit of your ambitious goals, while also giving yourself the space to be imperfect in a way that doesn’t require you to settle for something below the standards of excellence that you set for yourself.

Are you ready?

“Pretty fucking good.”

Try that on for a moment. Think about something that you’ve done recently.

Instead of looking back on it and thinking of the ways it didn’t measure up to your standard of perfection, and instead of calling it merely “good enough,” try saying to yourself…

“that was pretty fucking good!”

Give it a week of holding your work to a new standard; one where the goal isn’t perfect, and it’s not the minimum standard of “good enough.” Shoot for “pretty fucking good” and see where it takes you — see how it feels to regard your work with those words.

It hasn’t been very long since I’ve adopted this phrase, but I can already feel a greater sense of pride in the things I’ve done since it no longer needs to be perfect, but I know it’s better than “good enough.”