Sometimes Good Enough Really Is Good Enough

If you are anything like me, you might need to hear this:

Sometimes good enough is truly good enough.

I have a hard time with that sometimes.

Okay, pretty much always. 🤣

And the funny thing is, I’ve never really thought of myself as a perfectionist. I’m still not sure I am one.

I don’t usually look at something I’ve made and think it has to be flawless before anyone can see it. My problem is a little different.

I can see how to make it better.

Give me just a little more time and I can improve this part. Add something over there. Rearrange that section. Make this easier to use. Rewrite that paragraph. Change the formatting. Fix the thing I suddenly noticed after looking at it for the 47th time.

And sometimes “just a little more time” turns into two or three hours. 🤣

Then I finish those improvements—and immediately see something else that could make it better yet.

And around and around we go.

The Never-Ending Carousel of “Just One More Tweak”

The ridiculous part is that sometimes, five iterations and eight hours later, I look at what I’ve created and realize:

I think I liked it better eight hours ago.

There was a perfectly good, completed Version 1 sitting right there.

I could have stopped.

I could have put it out into the world.

Instead, I climbed aboard the Just One More Tweak carousel and apparently bought the unlimited-ride wristband.

That’s something I’m trying to get better at recognizing.

Not every possible improvement needs to happen now.

Version 1 doesn’t have to contain every idea I will ever have for something.

That’s what Version 2 is for.

Version 1 Doesn’t Have to Be Forever

This framing works particularly well for my brain because I’m not telling myself I can never improve the thing.

I’m just telling myself:

Not yet.

If I notice something I’d like to change after Version 1 is finished, I can put it in the change log.

If I think of a useful addition next week, it can go in the change log.

If someone uses what I’ve made and I discover something that would genuinely make it better, that can go in there too.

Eventually, there may be enough meaningful changes that it’s worth opening the project again and creating Version 2.

And Version 2 can be better because I’ve had time, distance, experience and perhaps even feedback from people who actually used Version 1.

That’s very different from keeping Version 1 sitting on my computer indefinitely while I continue trying to anticipate every possible improvement before anyone else gets to see it.

Of course, when Version 2 is ready, I’ll probably be tempted to sit on that “just a little while longer,” too.

Because obviously there will still be things that could make it better.

There always will be.

That’s the trap.

Knowing Something Isn’t the Same as Remembering It

This is why I needed my little Oracle Grove Reminders graphic.

I already know these things.

I know that good enough can be good enough.

I know that done—or shipped—is better than “just one more tweak.”

I know Version 1 doesn’t have to be forever.

I know I’m allowed to move on.

But knowing something intellectually doesn’t mean I’ll remember it at the exact moment my brain says:

Wait! I could make this 7% better if I just spend the rest of the evening on it!

I’m human.

Sometimes I need reminders to keep the things I already know at the forefront of my mind—particularly when they involve something that doesn’t come naturally to me.

And apparently one of those things is knowing when to stop improving something.

Maybe the Question Isn’t “Could This Be Better?”

Because the answer to that question is almost always going to be yes.

I could probably make this article better.

I could keep rewriting it. Add another section. Find a better example. Change the graphic. Rearrange a few sentences.

But at some point, a more useful question becomes:

Is this good enough to do what I made it to do?

If the answer is yes, maybe that’s the stopping point.

Ship it.

Share it.

Use it.

Let Version 1 exist.

And if I eventually discover enough things that truly deserve changing?

Well, I know where to find the change log.

🌿

And now, of course, there’s another question:

What happens when you genuinely don’t think it’s good enough?

That’s probably a whole other rabbit hole.