It’s often when you read the same or similar things several times that you stop and take notice.
This has happened to me recently – firstly it was ‘Things change so fast that all books are outdated before they are published’. Then it was a story about Skype and how if they had waited to fix the many early glitches before launch – well we’d still be waiting! Now any early skype users will tell you how hit and miss the calls were in the early days but people recognised a great concept and were happy to hang in there for it to get better.
Now it might be that this notion of not quite finishing things appeals to me because I’m not the worlds greatest completer-finisher, but then I do also have perfectionist tendencies so it got me thinking about when ‘good enough’ is good enough…and when its not!
Here’s my starter for 10, I’d love to hear yours…
Sometimes when change needs to happen, small incremental steps are what’s needed. At other times we need a fundamental shift in thinking. It’s a bit like the ipod – it was a complete revolution in how we listen to music and has continued to evolve with smaller adaptions ever since. So the first model was ‘good enough’ to try out the idea and gain approval, and Apple have made very lucrative sales out of all those subsequent improvements. The lesson here is that in business, and at home and at play, there are times when we need to be radical, and accept that we won’t get it right first time. That may be more or less appropriate depending on what your organisation does, or more or less comfortable depending on your culture, or your own personal prefered way of working, but the simple truth is that the world is moving at warp speed and we all need to be more nimble in our decision making to keep up.
And, one situation where ‘good enough’ is not to be considered? In our interactions with each other. While we are being busy with rapid change, skimping on time spent to connect with and value those around each will never bring benefits. And after all it takes seconds to say hello, thank you, or well done and those seconds will always be time well spent.
So, when is ‘good enough’ ok in your world? Happy pondering
Gill
We’ve taken a lesson out of this post and gone live with our website. Whilst we know there are many things we can do, we thought we’d ask your help too – what improvements can we make for you? How can we make this a must use website for your uses?