The Good-Enough Life

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by KC911

Sports taught me to settle for average ....and I really tried...

Yeah, it didn't take long before I knew I'd never qualify for Boston, but I ran anyway - way in the back of the pack. I finished somewhere south of 25,000th in a pack of 35,000 at the Paris marathon. Talk about humbling.
But I fall back on the, "At least I tried." It is somewhat comforting.
Trying my hand at art - any kind of artistic creation is the same way.
But if I am constructing some mundane thing, from a sentence to a house, I can not stand not being perfect.

[KevinTodd]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Yeah, it didn't take long before I knew I'd never qualify for Boston, but I ran anyway - way in the back of the pack. I finished somewhere south of 25,000th in a pack of 35,000 at the Paris marathon. Talk about humbling.
But I fall back on the, "At least I tried." It is somewhat comforting.
Trying my hand at art - any kind of artistic creation is the same way.
But if I am constructing some mundane thing, from a sentence to a house, I can not stand not being perfect.

That, my friend, is wildly commendable, and an achievement that most will never understand.

[pavulon]

Lots of people throw "perfectionist" around as a sort of humblebrag without ever looking into where it comes from and the problems associated with it nor admitting that almost nothing is ever perfect because perfect is effectively only an opinion. Perfection is a cruel mistress.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by KC911

^^^ Only took me 7-8 years to get my itty-bitty house floor done....on a diagonal....just because...I pay attention to detail....nobody will ever know but me. Craftsman are like Milt....fast too....but I try....sometimes...

Sports taught me to settle for average ....and I really tried...

Oh, you don't know how long it took me to do a living room in a herringbone pattern run on the bias. That's like a 1000 little triangles. I was using a product called Anderson Brick Blocks which were individual engineered lumber tiles. No sheets.

Not my house and this is somewhat what it looked like although the tiles weren't as long and the floor was way more subtle than this:

[wdfifteen]

I don't want to get too far off topic, but there is a building in Springfield, Ohio that was built in the '20s or 30's as a skating rink. The floor is as above, only it is thousands of concentric circles. I don't know the details of how it was constructed, but was used as a machine shop for a while because the floor was so solid. The last time I was in it, it was a warehouse - with the most beautiful floor imaginable.

[SCadaddle]

Warren Zevon said it best in this one.

[pwd72s]

How tough to be the absolute best? This 9 ball match I just watched it a good illustration. No need to watch it all, just a few racks. 9' table with tight 4.25" pockets. Vilmos, the winner, missed maybe 3 times in 11 racks.

Then consider this...in the top 100 ranked players world wide, he is ranked 80th...
Oscar, his opponent isn't listed in the top 100..but is a very skilled player, winning 8 games in this race to 11.

Yes, Shane has beaten both of these guys...

Also wish I had $5 for every time Jimmy "Pretty boy Floyd" Mataya said "unbelievable" in the commentator's booth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwY0uaMDRc

[dan88911]

After reading this thread figured I would share my two cents.
"Nothing is finished,
Nothing is perfect,
Nothing last"
I told this is Wabi Sabi a Japanese Philosophy.

Don't know if this is true however, I heard Micheal Jackson would question himself when practicing a dance move ,"that was good but how can I do it better".

[strupgolf]

I do what is good enough for me. I'm not out to please everyone, only my loved ones too. I'm not a perfectionist, but I've done enough in my life to satisfy myself. Am I always right, no, but I'll deal with that at a later time.

[ckelly78z]

Originally Posted by dan88911

Don't know if this is true however, I heard Micheal Jackson would question himself when practicing a dance move ,"that was good but how can I do it better".

If all I had to do was practice my craft, and perfect my moves, I would be very good at something also. Micheal never had to work a 40+ hour factory, or a desk job, and then go get groceries, and help kids do homework, while fixing supper, finally to sit down, and watch a show or two before being overcome with sleep.

Being a "goodenoughist" is fine with me, because at home, I am the plumber, carpenter, auto mechanic, greenskeeper, landscaper, farm hand, and sous chef.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by madcorgi

Impressive resume, and certainly denotes a life of achievement. But I contend that dumb luck still had a lot to do with it. He was born smart, white, male, and American, and had the means to get a good education. That's a big leg up on a lot of folks.

But your point is valid: all that would still have gotten him nothing had he not put in the effort.

I was born white, male, and in a double wide, still waiting on my white privilege! The ignorance of people never ceases to amaze me.....

[Crowbob]

Interesting topic.

I think most normal people stumble upon something and become inspired by it. By normal I mean people who are not prodigies, who are not born with innate ability. This has been my experience.

My mother was a painter, among other things. One of my earliest memories, as a toddler, is of me watching her paint a mural. To this day, I remember my confusion while trying to comprehend the purple bunch of grapes on the wall that were not grapes. So naturally I’ve always had an artistic bent and was actually pretty proud of my work. Until my first visit to the DIA (Detroit Institue of Art) on a junior high field trip.

What I felt while absorbing the most beautiful and awesome sculptures and paintings I later learned was agitation. I became agitated. I had not known humanity could produce such things. They made me nervous. They made me sad. They made me realize the futility of my own drawing and my own painting and my own music-making

Over the years, say at a concert or wandering around Florence and Rome, or becoming lost in Hemingway or Dostoyevsky I often wondered what is the point of my even trying to paint or write or make music or whatever endeavor I was inexorably compelled to do.

I would get to a certain level of proficiency, or command of the medium or shiver at the words I had written because of their profundity. And then suddenly, and always, become disgusted by it. Repulsed. Loathing at the idea that I had deluded myself into thinking I could create something great.

Until one day I began seeing these great works by Michelangelo, Mozart, and Melville not as challenges but rather as gifts.

As I’ve grown older I’ve become more comfortable accepting that any greatness in me is in my appreciation of greatness. For me having the intellect and emotional capacity to understand the greatness of others has allowed me license to make, perform or write good enough.

[A930Rocket]

I’ve tried for perfection, but have settled for good enough. But it bothers me that someone might see the flaw in my work.

[Aurel]

My good enough is someone else’s perfection, and my perfection is just good enough for yet another person...

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Interesting topic.

I think most normal people stumble upon something and become inspired by it. By normal I mean people who are not prodigies, who are not born with innate ability. This has been my experience.

My mother was a painter, among other things. One of my earliest memories, as a toddler, is of me watching her paint a mural. To this day, I remember my confusion while trying to comprehend the purple bunch of grapes on the wall that were not grapes. So naturally I’ve always had an artistic bent and was actually pretty proud of my work. Until my first visit to the DIA (Detroit Institue of Art) on a junior high field trip.

What I felt while absorbing the most beautiful and awesome sculptures and paintings I later learned was agitation. I became agitated. I had not known humanity could produce such things. They made me nervous. They made me sad. They made me realize the futility of my own drawing and my own painting and my own music-making

Over the years, say at a concert or wandering around Florence and Rome, or becoming lost in Hemingway or Dostoyevsky I often wondered what is the point of my even trying to paint or write or make music or whatever endeavor I was inexorably compelled to do.

I would get to a certain level of proficiency, or command of the medium or shiver at the words I had written because of their profundity. And then suddenly, and always, become disgusted by it. Repulsed. Loathing at the idea that I had deluded myself into thinking I could create something great.

Until one day I began seeing these great works by Michelangelo, Mozart, and Melville not as challenges but rather as gifts.

As I’ve grown older I’ve become more comfortable accepting that any greatness in me is in my appreciation of greatness, now that my own dreams of it have evaporated. For me having the intellect and emotional capacity to understand the greatness of others has allowed me license to make, perform or write good enough.

Gosh, C-B, you almost had me all weepy! Great story, great life lesson. I too feel the same keen appreciation of greatness, now that I, like you, have been relieved of achieving it myself.

And good enough can be pretty damn good--it just ain't at the pinnacle. Joe Bonamassa is a fantastic guitarist, but I don't think he's truly great. He certainly didn't redefine the genre like Hendrix and then Eddie Van Halen did. (I find Joe kinda derivative and smug, a superb technician, but not an artist. But I digress.)

I'm a pretty good driver, some might even say better than good, but I'm not within a galaxy's reach of Scott Dixon, a man who I watched for three days at Portland turn in flawless laps time after time. That guy is what I'd call great. But . . . his life is, and always has been, singularly devoted to racing. Check out Born Racer on Amazon--it's a documentary on him, and traces how much he and his family sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice, to sustain his greatness. It's probably worth it to those involved, but there are lots of Indycar drivers who have worked just as hard yet have failed to reach the top steps. Scott just has a tad bit more talent. And, we absolutely must recognize that luck plays a role. Scott's been through some nasty accidents, including the big one at Indy in 2017, that easily could and should have killed him. (The movie covers this with footage of wife Emma taken as the accident happens---almost too hard to watch. And normally I find Emma emma-nently easy to watch. But I digress again.)

[KFC911]

Can't have balance and perfection...lucky to have the first with a bit of effort....

I was an anal retentive, attention to detail, nothing less than 99.99% systems guy....99% would get yer azz fired (or promoted ), in my corporate IT life...

Dr J and Mr H

[OK-944]

Thank you Crowbob...you said it perfectly!

This...and a well-maintained/tuned 944 is (more than) good enough for me!

[Chocaholic]

I’ve always believed that every person is born with extraordinary talent in something. Most go through life without ever discovering what it is. An occasional few, often through no fault of their own, find it easily. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Freddy Mercury, John Lennon, Van Gogh, Einstein and the list goes on.

Our job as parents is to help our children find that special something that brings them happiness and success. Most of us fail. But we have to try.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by madcorgi

It's a particularly useful counterpoint in this time of ours where anything less than a great result--a win--is considered a miserable loss by a miserable loser.

I agree we live in a time with some absurd standards both in the positive and negative spectrum.

It's like there is no middle and that you cannot be content or happy unless in the top .01 percent. Perhaps content and happy are luxuries we can no longer afford?

Originally Posted by Zeke

I have often wondered about the qualifications of experts and critics although I don't refute they exist.

I am weary of people self-proclaiming themselves as experts but can only taut credentials as evidence.

I suppose in a courtroom setting testimony by an expert witness is considered evidence, but when that so-called evidence is not collaborated by other material sources is it still valid?

Is expertise going to outweigh the facts?


Maybe just talk louder and be more insulting, that always works, so does ganging up with cronies and loyalists


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/opinion/the-good-enough-life-philosophy.html?fallback=0&recId=1HeuLmDvs2jUYNxdTTI93XJIRph&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=WA&recAlloc=home-geo&geoCountry=US&blockId=home-living-vi&imp_id=934129077&action=click&module=Smarter%20Living&pgtype=Homepage

And it remains to be seen if we as a society can establish a good-enough relation to one another, where individuals and nations do not strive for their unique greatness, but rather work together to create the conditions of decency necessary for all.

I've always wondered why so-called greatness seems to be at the expense of someone else. If truly great, would not others less great be spared by the hardships one places on them?

It is one thing to stand on the shoulders of giants, and yet another to stand on top of a pile of bodies laid beneath you by your own hand.

[oldE]

I am firmly in the "Good Enough" camp.
I built our house (except for the main foundation and the rough plumbing), along with a barn and a garage. None of it would make Milt do anything except shake his head, but it is warm and dry paid for and has been standing for 38 years.
I write some songs and play enough guitar to back up my voice. I play my stuff, mixed with covers at a local restaurant a couple evenings a month. I like it when folks come up to me at the end of a set and say how much they enjoyed the music. I know it isn't perfect. It even seems when I make a mistake and have a bit of a laugh over it, it makes folks appreciate the rest of the evening more.
I have known some guys who play circles around me. Some of whom will play with others but would not put themselves in front of an audience solo. Maybe they think they're not good enough. Maybe it is something else.
I am happy to share my music with folks who also seem to think it is good enough.

Best
Les