“Good enough.” Those two words are frequently heard coming out the mouths of the underachievers of the world. You have certainly heard them said, often with a few more words following like these:
“Good enough for now.”
“Good enough for government work.”
“Good enough for who it is for.”
“Good enough for the girls (or guys) I date.”
And the worst — “Good enough for me.”
My friend Mark mows his grass to near perfection. He sometimes takes razzing about it from his neighbors who mock him for this obsession. He once told me, “If you are going to do something — anything, really — why wouldn’t you do it to the best of your ability?” Not surprisingly, Mark is a successful self-made person who has faced many personal and professional challenges in his life but has tackled them all head on. He believes everything he does — everything — is a reflection of him. We could all learn something from Mark.
Our publishing business is somewhat unique in that what we do is out there for everyone to critique every day. Readers don’t hesitate to point out our errors, and I appreciate that. Some who work for us express their annoyance of that criticism. They typically don’t last long. We are not perfect, but we most certainly should strive to be.
The subject of this column was inspired by a quote I read recently that said, “Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.” I shared it with our staff, but the message goes beyond our jobs.
Cooking a meal. Ironing a shirt. Making your bed. Washing a car. And, yes, mowing the lawn. Even when no one else can see it, the end result of each of these tasks is a self-portrait of who we are.
So, what makes one person want to “autograph with excellence” and another to continually say “good enough”?
Inspiration? Self-motivation? An inner drive to continually improve? A fear of failure? Obsessiveness? Compulsiveness? Or just a simple desire to do one’s best?
The answer is likely a bit of each of those and many more. It is also likely to be different for each person and, to some degree, each task. Meanwhile, what’s the harm in working to do one’s best and to autograph with excellence? It certainly seems better than the alternative.
Have a great week, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
