Better vs Good Enough

This morning, the question I am asking myself is: when did it become permissible to accept moderate mediocrity, in place of excellence?

There's an old Russian proverb (and it probably exists in other cultures in other forms) that says, "Better is the enemy of good enough." When I first heard that, I nodded and thought to myself that this was a good thing. We didn't need to keep tinkering with something if it was "good enough". If it worked, don't try and fix it. And there are times when that is true. If something works, especially if it's a fairly complicated process or it could be potentially "broken" by messing with it, why take the chance and putz with it? Leave it be.

The flip side of that coin is that if we don't continually strive to improve and/or innovate, we might be still using a couple of tin cans with a piece of string instead of that high-tech unit that people in America pick up at least once every 120 seconds on average.

But this morning, this concept of "acceptable mediocrity" is troubling to me. When did it become acceptable for us, as a society, as people, as employees, as life-partners, as parents, as children...to NOT give our best? To "just get by". Sure, I get it...some days, that's literally all the water there is in the bucket. I just don't have any more to give, I'm blown out. But if I'm honest with myself, there are days that I don't "leave it all on the floor", as my friend Doug Marks would say. Why is that? Isn't my job worth that? I mean, they are paying me to dress up, show up, and give them an honest day's work for an honest day's wage. Am I keeping up my part of the bargain if I don't give them 100% of me when I'm there?

In some of my former professional lives, I've had others reporting to me. In one instance, I had an individual who thought nothing of posting selfies on facebook showing how "bored" they were at work. Now keep in mind...we were never without work to do at that place. But this person seemed to think it was acceptable to do that. This person's co-workers were not amused, nor appreciative. Neither was I. I've also had people reporting to me who would come to work and just pretty much wander around aimlessly all day, going through the motions of pretending to do things, but essentially pushing all the "real" work off onto the person who would be coming in for the shift after them. When I approached this person about their lackluster performance, their response was that they "just weren't feeling it today."

Seriously?

One of the things I like about Taekwondo is the life-lessons it teaches and reinforces. The dojang (training room) is a special place. We insist that everyone...EVERYone...takes off their shoes and leaves them at the door. The reasoning is twofold. First, it keeps the floor cleaner. I've worked out on a floor where street shoes were allowed before we got to use the floor, and I've pulled pieces of glass out of my own foot, and out of the feet of my young students. So we take our shoes off to keep the dirt of the outside world out of the dojang. But from a philosophical standpoint, we take our shoes off to symbolically leave "the world" outside the dojang. The dojang is a place where we can put our total focus and concentration on the art and science of Taekwondo. Bad day at school? It stays outside. Fussing at your spouse? It stays outside. Car has to go into the shop? It stays outside. Dog wants to come in and play? Dog stays outside.

All of it. It all stays outside so that your focus can be on one thing and one thing only...learning and being.

To learn Taekwondo well, you simply can't show up to class and "slide through". If you have an instructor that is worth their salt, they won't let you. They will push you past your own preconceived limitations. They will help you drive through that wall of self-doubt and mediocrity. They will not let you dwell in the land of "good enough", but they will show you the path to "better" and "best". And you will come out of that crucible refined into something more than you could ever imagine that you could be.

So why do we allow ourselves (and others that we have influence with) to "just get by"? Excellence breeds excellence. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity.

God doesn't ask me to "just get by". He asks me to bring my best. Everything I do is (or should be) a willing sacrifice to the Creator. What arrogance that I think I can get by with "meh...this is good enough." Is "good enough" truly a "sacrifice"?

I don't think so.

Today, I choose to be a living sacrifice. I choose to bring my best. To my job, to my spouse, to my family...to my God and King. They all deserve nothing less than my best.

My two cents worth today.