Good Enough

Every January I find myself working through the jigsaw puzzle my family buy me for Christmas. As is always the case, I find the puzzle provides many a lesson for work and life.

As a recovering perfectionist, I’m often quoted as saying that it is important to know when something is good enough. There is no point waiting for the perfect moment or trying to make something perfect, once it’s good enough just do it.

Except when you’re placing pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, good enough is not good enough. There have been a few moments in the last week where I’ve thought I’ve placed a piece only to look closely and realise the pattern doesn’t match, or there is an ever-so-slight gap between two pieces.

The flip side is that there are many aspects of the puzzle where good enough is good enough.

Such as the progress I make each day.

On that basis, when it comes to my jigsaw puzzle, today has been good enough AND I’ve placed some pieces. The same applies to work and life.