What Is Good Enough for You?

This post encourages you to ask yourself what is good enough for you, and to unlearn to ask what other will think about you. Recall Coco Chanel, who famously said:

I don’t care what you think about me, I don’t think about you at all.

Read this post to see my examples for your inspiration, and mental peace.

Disclosure: This post has affiliate links.

Good, Better, the Best

What is good enough, is a hard question to answer. My first reaction would be like “It depends what you are talking about.” At the same moment, my mind tells me “Gal you can’t use different measures.” Are they different? Really? Or is it about what is important for me? Therefore, it has to be better or the best?

When it comes to clothing, or let’s say investment clothes or the so-called workhorses, I want the best. High quality, great craftsmanship, perfect fit, great color and cut. Thus, it’s important to know when to splurge and when to bargain. In case of a trend, the quality must be good enough to last the season and permit to get the price-per-wear below 1 US$. In case of a shearling coat, it has to last about 10-15 winters to get there.

Good Enough Is Relative

When it comes to thrifting one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. Dumpster divers see the good in something that someone else did not find good enough anymore. Same principle.

Some examples what’s good enough

Let’s step back for a moment. What’s good enough in various daily life situations?

Cleaning

Here is my philosophy on house cleaning. When it comes to cleaning the room, take a piece of old cloths and a hard brush, a bucket full of water, add some hand-soap. Wrap the brush in the cloths, mop the floor of the room in a circle, wipe up solid dirty like little stones, etc. with the cloths, and wash the cloths in the bucket, repeat until the entire room is wiped. Don’t worry about the corners.  They are kittens’ playground for chasing their tail. They wipe the corners with their fur. No kitten? Doesn’t matter. Then who uses the corners?

At the dorms in Clermont-Ferrand, France, students had a house-keeper, who did the cleaning every three weeks. I did the other two week. At the dorms in Albany, NY, my roommates set for the shared living room, bathroom, and kitchen a cleaning session every six weeks. They joked about my vacuum cleaning my room every week.

Vacuum Cleaning or Mowing the Lawn

My approach: Go back and forth in lanes the width of the vacuum-cleaner or push-mower, one lane after the next with a little overlapping. Once a week. At least, that’s good enough for me. Make a lot of noise so everyone sees that you did it.

A Great Deal

The cost per use gets below one dollar.

Theoretical Test for the Driver’s License in Alaska

16 out of 20.

What’s Not Good Enough

What’s not good enough in various daily life situations? Well, the first and second house we were shown when house hunting after our arrival in Alaska were not good enough for us.

Science Proposals

Oops! To have a chance for getting funded you need a majority of the reviewers saying your proposal is excellent. One or two very goods are ok, sometimes. However, often all excellent aren’t even good enough to get funded. State contingents. University contingents. Institute contingents. All funding already committed. You name it.

My Grading

90% correct means an A, 70% a B, 50% a C. A C is good. Hm? So 50% of everything is good enough? Sure, when you are at the undergraduate level. But at the graduate level you need a B, i.e. a very good. Another example when good is not good enough.

Performance

Perfectionism means 100% right. Why is it that one is always the most critical on things that are important to oneself? I hate when I find a typo just the minute after I hit published. And yes, it happens! Probably one has just to live with that one only finds the previous-last typo. 🙂

When it comes to the blog, I could bite myself in the butt (if I were flexible enough to do so) when I sent out an email with an incorrect link. Or when I forgot to update the counting of the linkup party. Just to give examples.

My clothes have to hang in a certain order in my closet. Why do I need the right order? Well, dressing in the dark during an outage. If not, well I don’t find what I want to wear. Learn more about overhauling your closet.

On the other hand, I want my belt buckle to be slightly off the middle (see LOTD photos), my eye makeup looking like it’s a leftover from the day before. I love a messy up-do. I love unfinished looking jewelry or distressed leather coats, but not distressed leather skirts. Why is this?

I want my dresses be tailored like this flattering neoprene dress cut like a sheath or the fit-and-flare dresses I have in my wardrobe.

There are things I can let go, but others where I am like good, better, the (personal) best. What about you?

Photos of me: G. Kramm

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