Good (enough) to Great?
Pulling weeds.
This was often my job as a kid. It wasn’t my favorite job. But what childhood chore is a favorite? Washing dishes? Cleaning the car? Mowing the lawn?
I’d always much rather ride my bike or climb the trees in my neighbor’s lot. (Do kids still do those things?)
I wasn’t allowed to climb the trees or ride the bike until my work passed my dad’s inspection.
I made the mistake of asking, “Is this good enough?”
My dad, who is (or at least was) something of a perfectionist informed me that this is the wrong question.
Don’t do a “good enough” job. Do a “good” job. Better yet, do a great job.
Fast-forward 40+ years.
There is a fine line between “good enough”, “good”, and “great” in the kind of work I do today.
If all there are still weeds, of course, the job isn’t finished. There are either weeds or there are not weeds.
But does an article have to be perfect? What defines perfect anyway?
No typos? (Maybe)
The right verbs? (This is important)
Eliminate the adverbs? (With exceptions)
What about people?
When is a leader developed?
When is a client coached?
When is an organization thriving?
Pulling weeds is easy. It’s done, or it’s not done. There are either weeds or there are no weeds.
Thought and people work is somewhat less clear than weed-pulling.
At least "less clear" when thinking about measurable results.
I’ve published imperfect blog posts and articles I could have massaged some more. But sometimes you just have to ship, so you can move on to the next project. Sometimes you have to allow leadership to do her thing to see if the environment is right for growth.
And some days are made for tree climbing.
For example:
Here’s a thing I wrote that was published yesterday.
Perfect? No.
Ship-able? Read it and let me know.
