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I say it depends on what the meaning of the word “enough” is, jerk…
I’m extremely fortunate to have spent most of my career in roles that play to my intrinsic motivation. At any moment, if you’d asked how are things at work, I’d have been likely to say, “Good,” and you’d probably think things are going well. But if I’d said “good enough,” what would you think?
I recently left the company where I spent the last decade — the highlight of my career — in search of new challenges. This company scratched a lot of itches in terms of what’s important to me,1 and since leaving, I’ve begun finding new ways of scratching these itches, a la my burgeoning “Portfolio Career.”2
One thing I haven’t been doing since leaving my company: spending the majority of my waking hours “earning a living,” which I tend to think of as the cornerstone of a “job.” For now, that’s been OK, as we’re also extremely fortunate to have “enough” at the moment without that — but that won’t be “good enough” forever.
As I think about my next “job,” I’m definitely reconsidering what “good enough” means, and I feel great about that. TND has taught me that sometimes, it’s like that with naps. Don’t get me wrong — I love getting as much of what’s important to me in life from every aspect of life, including work (and naps)…but sometimes, as much as we tend to seek loss of consh, “good enough” is good enough.3 As a wise man once said, sometimes, “The action is the juice.”
Among other things: doing excellent work; being challenged intellectually; working with great people; earning a living; mentorship; making the world better.
In no particular order, I’ve been doing the following: creating and tending to TND; spending time with family and friends; playing and practicing guitar; volunteering; and preparing to teach as an adjunct at a local university.
To quote my girls’ preschool teachers, “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset,” though I might reframe that slightly as, “You get what you get, and it’s OK to be upset, but don’t throw a fit.” Sometimes, a slight non-rhyme is “good enough.”