Learning To Say Good Enough: Overcoming Perfectionism as an Nurse Entrepreneur
It can stop you from taking the actions necessary to move you forward and create results.
So here’s an antidote that you can try on when you are feeling stuck in the muck of perfectionism:
Good Enough.
Let me tell you what I mean.
A little over two years ago when I began my journey as an Nurse Entrepreneur, I had one of those moments of pure crisis.
One of those moments that kept me up at night and consumed entire days of my life.
Are you ready to hear what caused that crisis?
I couldn’t complete my LinkedIn profile.
Yup, you read that right.
My LinkedIn profile caused me more anxiety than running a trauma code. It was totally messed up.
Now, looking back I can laugh, but at the time it stopped me in my tracks for nearly two weeks.
I kept editing and revising. Going out on yet another photo shoot. Comparing my profile to others.
I was so consumed by the need for everything to be perfect that I couldn’t see how ridiculous the whole thing was.
And then it hit me:
It was Good Enough.
In my struggle to complete my LinkedIn profile, I was driving myself absolutely insane. And for what?
Well, I was attempting to achieve something that simply doesn’t exist – perfection.
But Good Enough does exist, and it can be an absolute game-changer.
You don’t actually want something to be perfect.
Think about how many times you’ve wanted the perfect… something.
In your mind, you have this ideal image of whatever it is that you’re seeking.
But the truth is, you don’t really want it to be perfect, because then you would never get it. If you are constantly looking for something to be perfect, then you’ll never stop searching.
You’ll never reach your goals.
- You don’t want a perfect house, you want a house that is good enough.
- You don’t want the perfect diet, you want a diet that promotes your vitality.
- You don’t want the perfect body, you want a body that is optimally healthy.
- You don’t want the perfect question for your client, you want a question that will forward and deepen the conversation.
When you aim for Good Enough, you reach your goals faster.
The Law of Diminishing Returns states that at a certain point in any process, you reach a level where the benefits gained are less than the money or energy that you are investing.
When you keep pushing yourself for that impossible goal of perfect, you waste an incredible amount of time and energy in that final push.
So once you notice yourself beginning to gain less and less value from the effort you are putting in, perhaps you’ve reached the point of diminishing returns.
The Law of Diminishing Returns
I can still remember the first time I heard the phrase Good Enough used in any memorable capacity.
I was doing dishes with my college roommate (an unlikely moment, but a true story nonetheless…) and he was going twice as fast as me.
I said to him, “How are you doing that?”
And his response blew my mind.
He said, “Bro, when it comes to dishes, I live by Good Enough.”
While I was washing dishes for twice as long, my roommate was getting 90% of the same results for half of the effort.
As a recovering perfectionist, I still do battle with the desire for everything to be “just so” before I release it out into the world.
But once I learned about the Law of Diminishing Returns, I learned to let some things go.
But – Good Enough is not an excuse to do any less than your best.
When you live by Good Enough, it means that you’re willing to do the best you can without driving yourself insane.
It means that you’re willing to go with “very good” instead of “perfect.”
It means that you are willing to leave a few t’s uncrossed so you can take action and move forward.
Always keep your eye on the bigger picture.
When you start noticing yourself becoming incredibly stressed out and your unattained goals are piling up, it’s time to start considering where you can apply Good Enough.
But I’ll admit, this won’t work in every situation.
Good Enough doesn’t apply when you’re passing meds or scrubbing into the OR. In fact, there are lots of moments in the hospital when your Good Enough needs to be better. And that’s totally fine.
But for the majority of life’s goals here’s something that I believe to be true:
Perfectionism can be a debilitating force…
Good Enough is what can get you rapid results.
In the comments below, let me know where you are living under the oppression of perfectionism, and how you believe Good Enough can set you free!