In the pursuit of good enough

Posted on July 16, 2007
Filed Under Releasing Limiting Beliefs, Spiritual Development |

It is so easy to get stuck in the pursuit of perfection. We can hide our insecurities, our unwillingness to move forward, our lack of self-love, with this idea that we want to get things “perfect.” We can put off quitting our dead-end job until we’ve found the “perfect” career. We can avoid taking a good hard look at our life circumstances by spending months redecorating our home until it is “perfect.” We can tell ourselves that we will finally find the life-partner of our dreams - once we’ve reached our “perfect” body-weight.

Perfection is, of course, a rapidly changing, entirely subjective concept that we can chase practically forever, without attaining our goal. What may be perfect today will suddenly be deemed unsuitable tomorrow. And so it can become a convenient distraction that never has to end.

If you find that perfection is a concept that gets in your way, I would like to offer instead the concept of “good enough.” Good enough is still very good. It takes work and effort to create something that is good enough. But we can also walk away from it in a reasonable amount of time, and move on.

Let’s say you’re seeking your dream job. You’re ready to move out of your unfulfilling career, but you’ve been struggling to find one that is exactly right for you. And so you’ve stayed in your present place of employment. Why not move to a job that is perhaps not perfect, but definitely good enough for now? Your present career is certainly nowhere near good enough. Why not shift forward to something that is at least better?

Let’s say you do move into a new job. It offers you more flexibility, more creativity. It is a huge improvement over your former job. You discover that some elements are actually ideal. Others are still not good enough. You begin to “tweak” your current position. Your understanding of what works and what doesn’t becomes crystal clear. You make a lateral move into a different department, based on what you’ve discovered. This job suits you perfectly. And all this in the pursuit of “good enough.”

You will find that making one major change towards “perfect” is almost impossible. But a number of changes towards “good enough” are completely within your grasp. You will find that, with each subsequent choice, your “good enough” becomes better and better. In the end, it may even end up being what is absolutely perfect for you right now.

Blessings,
Andrea