When Is Good Enough Good Enough?
How to tell whether your goal should be good enough, really good, or (almost) perfect
When is “good enough” good enough?
When is “really, really good” really the goal?
And when do I really need to hold out for (almost) perfect?
These are some of the toughest questions to answer as business owners — or really for any human!
I find that creating the delicate balance between good enoughness, time, and other resources is always a work-in-progress.
What I’ve learned is that there is indeed a percentage of work where “good enough” is really good enough. There is a large percentage of work for which I want to aim for “really, really good.” And, yes, there’s even a small percentage of work that needs to be (almost) perfect.
How do you decide what work falls into each category?
I think one measure we can use is whether the work is “mission-critical.” In other words, is the product of this work central to the purpose of the business?
Here’s a personal example from my own work:
I can build websites. Am I really, really good at it? Absolutely not. But I do a good enough job that I’ve continued to do my own website work these 12 long years! It’s not mission-critical. Good enough is really good enough.
On the other hand, the What Works podcast and our What Works Weekly newsletter are mission-critical. They’re a key part of how we do what we do. They’re also frequent and somewhat ephemeral. So my goal is to make them really, really good week in and week out.
The things that fall into my (almost) perfect bucket are few & far between. But my goal starts to stretch into that territory when we’re talking about long-form articles, my hopefully soon-to-be-a-real-thing book, and programs we develop. These things are long-lasting and, not just mission-critical, but mission-defining.
So here are some of the things that I think about when I’m figuring out how high I want to set the bar for myself (or others):
- Is this work critical to the mission, purpose, or promise of the business?
- What resources do I have to invest in this work? Would some or all of those resources be better invested in other work?
- How much pleasure or satisfaction do I feel in making the work better?
- Who or what am I holding up if I hold out on finishing to make the work better?
I’d love to hear how you decide whether something should be good enough, really, really good, or (almost) perfect.
