Great or Good

 

“Great is the enemy of good.”

 

I do in principle believe that statement.  I have seen this play out.  I have come up with this elaborate Olympic high dive routine for something in my life and ended up doing a belly flop instead.  It has happened.  The statement has relevance and application and there are many tasks and areas of life where good is good enough.

There have also been times when I have intentionally decided to be good, not great.  My last year of teaching was also the last year that three of my kids were going to be home.  I decided that I didn’t want to sacrifice my last year of major influence on my kids’ lives, for my classroom.  I chose to be a good teacher (not a great one).

But still, great is the enemy of good, is not a statement I want to build my life around.  There are many parts of my life that I don’t want to just be “good”.  There are areas, tasks, and roles where I want to be “great”.

Greatness is intimidating.  Greatness is often paralyzing.  We get inspired by the ideal of greatness, but then get immediately flooded with insecurities and self-doubt.  “Can I do this?  Will I have the perseverance to make it to finish this?  Am I enough?”

We get inspired, we take the first couple of steps in the direction of greatness, then we start to realize just how far away the finish line really is.  “Do I really want it that bad?  If I do it like this instead, will it be good enough?  I don’t think it’s actually worth it to me.”

We get a full grasp of the challenge and convince ourselves that it wasn’t what we really wanted in the first place.  We tell ourselves that we had unrealistic aspirations; we let our minds get carried away.  "Sure, it would have been cool, but do I even get anything out it? Why bother?"

I concede that no one can do everything in life to the standard of greatness… but pick one thing.  Pick one thing that you want to be truly great at.  Pick one project or area in life where you want to execute it in such a way that you inspire others.  Pick one thing in your life where you know good truly is not good enough, and commit. 

Go after it! Go hard! Make the sacrifices, let the other areas of your life settle for good.  Let people around you know what you’re committed to.  Cut out a few things that you know are holding you back.  Celebrate your milestone accomplishments along the way.  Do it well!  Get a taste of greatness.  Do it one time.  Experience greatness.

Show yourself that it is possible.  See that distant finish line and find out how many steps it takes to get there. Overcome the surprises, obstacles, and barriers.  Give yourself the opportunity to have greatness in the rear-view mirror.  Then, you’ll know.

You’ll know if it was really worth it.  You’ll know exactly what it takes.  You’ll have confidence and clarity about the areas of your life where good is good enough and where greatness should be the standard.

But you’ve got to do it at least once.  If you never ever accomplish greatness, then this is all just philosophical ideas.  This is all just an abstract debate with no concrete application.  You can’t discern good vs. great without knowing both. 

You can’t say whether or not wagyu grass-fed organic beef is worth the upcharge, if you’ve never actually paid for it and tried it. If you want to know, you’ve got to do it at least once.

Pick one area. Choose greatness and keep choosing it.  Say no to good.  Press mute on all the insecurities.  Be mentally sold out in one area.  Experience greatness.

 

…and please, let me know how it goes!