It's "Good Enough"

You may of heard the statement thrown around of something being just "Good Enough". If so, help me understand what that means. Now, I understand that this might be very difficult for me to understand. I have been accused of being a perfectionist before. But enough of that, let's dive into being "Good Enough". Do you wake up in the morning and think, "I hope that I am just "Good Enough" today?" How about this, you go buy a movie ticket in hopes that the movie is just "Good Enough" to hold you attention. Or best of all, you are searching for your spouse and your ultimate criteria is, "Good Enough". What? I am sorry, but I have a real problem with the "Good Enough" theory. I can not find one reference in the Bible about being good enough. I actually think that Christ modeled quite the opposite. However, I do believe that there are many reasons why the "Good Enough" principal is wide spread. Lets take a minute to look into them.

1) Laziness. Laziness is soooo common in our society today. We have completely become the society of the path of least resistance. Why have convenience stores become so popular? We know that it is not because of their great values; it is because of laziness. Fast food? Is it about quality? No, it is about laziness. Laziness has taken over so many people in our workforce today and is leading us down a bad path. Laziness will lead to a dangerous habit called sloppiness, and sloppiness will cost your organization a ton of money.

2) Lack of Commitment. Oh, this is huge. A great book written by Marcus Buckingham First, Break all the Rules talks about three levels of involvement. Engaged, Non Engaged, and Actively Disengaged. Staff and employees that lack commitment become actively disengaged, and actively disengaged employees will hardly ever strive for the best. They will hardly ever take the extra step required to move from Good to Great.

3) Poor Work Ethic. Hard workers are hard to come by these days. Many are just looking for the gravy train. We refer to this as the Ramora theory. If you are not familiar with the Ramora, it is the fish that attaches to a shark and eats the scraps that the sharks leave behind. They let the sharks do all the work, from the hunt, to the attack, then the kill. Once all the work is done, and the prey has truly become prey, the Ramora feeds on the scraps.

4) Lack of Vision. Now, here is where I turn my focus on the church or corporation. Too many organizations have a pathetic vision. Or, even worse, they have a great vision but they either hold it among the leadership, or cast only with a few people. This is a monumental mistake because the vision must permeate through the entire organization to be successful. Lack of vision will lead to a dead organization. In another article that I am working on called Vision Leading, I talk about how that great leaders not only have a great vision, but they have the unique ability to cast that vision and that vision becomes contagious. With a lack of vision, you have a lack of leadership and with a lack of leadership you have a directionless, decrepit, and dying organization.

These are four things that, in my humble opinion, lead to the "Good Enough" principal. Why stop at being "Good Enough"? We serve a perfect and Holy God, a God that modeled and made it very clear to us with His son, Jesus, that good enough was not good enough. The challenge is to step out, to lead beyond being "Good Enough", break through the mundane and strive for excellence in everything. I can tell you this, its not easy (Phi 4:13), but it sure is fun to see the amazing results. `