Good is the Enemy of Great

 

I’m sure we’ve all heard this quote. Maybe from a coach yelling it at the team in the middle of basketball practice, or from inside your head when you know you could give a little bit more.

As cliché as it the saying may be now, there’s a clearly reason for it. Don’t allow the feeling of being comfortable, or that things are good enough keep you from wanting and going after the next level. Evidences of this come out in ways that sound similar to these:

"Yeah, my job's ok. It pays the bills."

"It'll do for now."

"It's not that bad (yet)."

"Meh. I just don't know what I want to do yet, but I have time to figure it out." (aka, I'll think about it later. And later then turns into much much later...)

This definitely applies to your job, but it doesn’t end there. It also applies to your health, your financials, your creativity and even in your intimate relationship – in any facet of your life. The minute we get complacent is the moment that we concede the chance to see and explore a deeper level of ourselves and what we’re capable of.

Caveat: Some people retort at this point, “But are you basically saying then that we should never be satisfied with what we have? Isn’t that a recipe for disaster in and of itself?” Touché. And they’re exactly right.

There’s a fine line between always wanting more, never being satisfied, and enjoying where you are. I’ve found that a happy medium lies between taking consistent action to improve (and enjoying that process), while also periodically pausing to take a look around and be grateful for all the good that's already around me. Not that this fine-line-walking is easy, by any means. I know I don't always execute it perfectly, so please call me out on it. But hopefully we can help each other not get stuck in either place (over-striving or complacency) for too long.