We’ve all heard the phrase: “Perfect is the enemy of good enough” used to describe how we get stuck on the solution not being perfect and so we don’t implement any solution. Conversely, ‘good enough’ can be the enemy of perfect, when we are already implementing a solution, but we become too lazy to stick to it. Thus the featured image for this post. This giant bag of Skittles has been sitting in the Halloween candy handout ‘cauldron’ on the island in the kitchen… since Halloween. Occasionally, I’ll get the craving for processed sugar, and I’ll open the bag and have 2-3 Skittles. A week. Maybe. I’m not complacent about them because I know they’re totally empty calories. Staying vigilant about those things is easy.
Where I fell off the wagon yesterday was in noting to myself that yesterday’s lunch offering was essentially a box of bread, chips, and a cookie, with two thin slices of meat and a slice of cheese thrown in for good measure, and then still eating it all anyway. This wasn’t just off the wagon, it was off the wagon rolling around in the ditch. Because I got complacent. In the big scheme of things, it can mean nothing. Or, if strung together with other ‘good enough’ days it could end up where I was; namely knocking against the upper limit on my bodyfat allowance and feeling like a fat bastard. My weight goal is just a number. But it’s a number that’s attainable, and not in a ‘cut weight like an MMA fighter trying to make weight’ sort of way.
Giving ourselves these little excuses is how we end up fat, lazy, weak, tired, broke (or worse, deep in debt), and generally distanced from our potential best selves. Goals, especially small and attainable ones, repeatedly achieved over a period of time get us much further on the path than ‘dreaming big’ does. Set the big goal, then get your ass after eating spoonfuls of elephant.
Leave a Reply