Good Enough Is Not Good Enough. Sorry, You Get an F from Me
April 17, 2023
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
I have become increasingly concerned about the idea of good enough. Whether it is the quality of Amazon’s customer service or the work of a handyman planting bushes, the idea of excellence has vaporized.
How far has the rot of “good enough” chewed into the philosophy of over achievers? I would say that the wooden structure of excellence has been beavered into woodchips. The result is that the woodchips have clogged the stream, flooded basements, and drowned children and pets.
One outstanding example of “good enough” is the essay (thank heavens, the write up was not presented as “real” news) is “Being Mediocre Sets You Free.” I wonder if the author would have been able to submit this to William James as a required analysis of motivation in his Harvard psychology class in the 19th Century? My hunch is that Mr. James would have offered the aspiring student to consider might be called the pursuit of excellence.
The article posits as a truth which can be extended to cover a wide swath of intellectual ground ideas like this statement about being a so-so gardener:
There was no performance with this hobby. No end goal. No metric of success other than I suppose, do I enjoy it? And even enjoyment isn’t quite the right word for enjoyment has its own never ending metrics. I suppose gardening brings me a modest sort of happiness. It focuses me. It releases me from my head and my nerves. And that is quite enough.
The idea exerts a powerful magnetic pull on those who lack the gumption to commit to a task, master it, and deliver excellence. Who judges excellence? May I suggest it is a result obtained from others engaged in the same activity. What if the person does not enjoy the activity? My response is, “Suck it in. Do the job in the best way possible?”
Mediocrity provides the warmth and comfort of a heavy blanket filled with plasticized pellets. Excellence means cold fingers wrestling with flower bulbs or recalcitrant books in a library, making notes when others are working on pre-diabetes at a tavern, or slapping plaster in a careless manner in order to watch TikToks.
I don’t need to learn about good enough. I want work done in an excellent way. Good enough is a C. Average. Sure, there is comfort in the normcore. Why not find solace in excellence? Why define freedom as gray? The bright colors of life shine from doing one’s best.
Stephen E Arnold, April 17, 2023
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