When Good Enough is Better Than Perfect
My late father worked as hard as anyone I know throughout his 85 years on this planet. As a small-business owner, self-taught engineer and hands-on builder of his own manufacturing equipment, he put in long hours and worked weekends when needed, while somehow spending a crazy amount of time racing cars, fishing, water skiing, camping, watching sports, fixing things around the house or just goofing off with his family.
How did he do so much, so consistently, for so long? How was he so insanely productive and full of fun without ever, to my recollection, burning out?
He had a secret weapon. Not an organizing trick. Not a productivity hack. A simple philosophy, a credo, a maxim that he passed on to me, one I feel obliged to share with the world.
When approaching the ho-hum conclusion of some challenging project at work or in the garage or around the house, and the result would serve its purpose well enough — even if it leaned on a little duct tape or otherwise lacked professional polish — Dad would say, simply:
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