“A good plan violently executed is better than the perfect plan executed next week.” –George S. Patton
I have a confession to make—I love researching stuff.
And in the modern age of AI, detailed answers have never been more accessible.
And what I love researching most of all is outdoors gear. As embarrassing as it is to write this, it can sometimes take me months to come up with the perfect tent or sleeping bag, as I ship products back and forth counting ounces and other high-end features.
A couple years ago my friend Mark asked if he could join us on a backpacking trip. It had been a while, and he needed a lot of new gear.
I still remember his casual manner when he called me from REI later that day, “Hey man, I got all the stuff, I’m good to go.”
Apparently he bought a tent, a backpack, a sleeping pad, a sleeping bag, and a new pair of hiking boots—all in about 15 minutes without analyzing anything!
What had taken me months to painstakingly research had taken him a short trip to REI.
Was my gear so vastly superior to his that it justified the enormous additional expenditure of time or mental energy? No way.
He seemed to enjoy himself just as much—if not more—than I did with his “substandard” tent and sleeping bag. If anything, he was less worried because his stuff wasn’t as expensive!
What I learned that day was that some decisions are important and some are not. These days it’s really easy to burn up a ton of time, money, and energy because of all the options available.
Most of the time, when you Go For Good Enough, it has a ton of advantages.
Here are a few reasons why good enough beats perfect almost every time:
- Perfect costs exponentially more time and energy. Take my backpacking example. The time and energy I put into my gear did not justify the benefit and wasted a lot of valuable time and brain space that could have gone toward more important things.
- Good enough gets results much faster. Countless books by famous inventors and entrepreneurs support the idea that trying stuff quickly and figuring out what will work or not work is better than endless planning. You learn way faster what else you need to do.
- Perfect usually costs more money too. When we search for the perfect thing to buy, it usually costs more money. Not always, but usually. Settling for something good enough may get you 95% of the need for 60% of the cost.
- Decision fatigue is real. Well-known studies on judges and doctors show that people have less chance of parole or increased chances of unnecessary medical interventions at the end of the day when the human brain is tired of making weighty decisions. Don’t use up your precious mental bandwidth on stuff that doesn’t matter.
- Good enough reduces anxiety and increases contentment. It has been said that action cures fear and avoidance increases it. This is a basic principle of anxiety disorder treatment. The more you analyze and postpone a decision, the fear will only grow larger and the decision may actually get harder.
- Goals that are too complex or ideal can demotivate. Psychological studies show that there is a sweet spot in terms of difficulty when it comes to goals (Hopfner and Klein, 2021). If the goal is too complex or lofty, people will generally become less motivated. Smaller reasonable goals can increase motivation as people have the satisfaction of having achieved milestones on the way to a large goal.
- What is perfect today is not good enough tomorrow anyway. Often we spend inordinate amounts of time to get the perfect solution, only to realize that technology changes so quickly that better things always become available. Far better to accept it will change and find a good enough solution more quickly.
- You can usually upgrade later. Few decisions are final and if you really feel what you have is substandard, you can usually upgrade later if you feel it is justified. Don’t treat every decision as final.
- Good enough frees you from ego and control. Sometimes we pursue the ideal thing because deep inside we feel it represents who we are. Settling for good enough can break down insecurities and help reduce the ego that builds when we need to control everything or have the best.
- Life is short. Every hour you spend polishing your widget is an hour that could have been spent living, growing, or connecting. Perfectionism is seldom worth the investment, and time is the most precious resource we have.
In a world where we often hear “always give your best” or “how you do anything is how you do everything,” messages of good enough are rare.
But they lift the burden of self-imposed tyranny in the mind of the perfectionist, they are a welcome antidote in a marketing society that tells us we need the best of everything.
Going for good enough might help you make a needed change at work sooner, it may help you leave a toxic boss, or maybe help you take that step to address a family problem that has been postponed.
One caveat, of course a few decisions in life like your closest relationships or big decisions will definitely warrant more time and discernment, but those are typically few and far between, and stopping to consider the difference is vital.
Take action now
Take 10 minutes this weekend to contemplate a minor decision you’ve been postponing.
Experiment with settling for good enough and take action right away. Monitor the outcome and see if you can make this a new habit for low risk decisions.
If it doesn’t go well, note your learning and move on quickly with a new direction. Ask yourself if you could have known what you know when you took action, versus more planning and deliberating.
Make a GFGE bracelet, get a tattoo, just start practicing the behavior.
If you struggle with perfectionism or delayed decision making, make this your new battle cry.
Have a great weekend!
Parker
