We’ve been so engrained that putting in years worth of work equates to a promotion, a raise, or an added bonus. We’re given more vacation or maternity leave based on the amount of time we've been employed. The systems unfortunately haven’t changed much, and those implementing these “rules” are missing the point. What impact is your work actually making? Your effort has to be more productive than anyone else and solve a problem worth people engaging in. (H/T: Geoff Welch)
The goal isn’t to crank out hours when the work that you’re doing doesn’t mean anything, which is where some people get confused and upset. Just because you worked your ass off doesn’t mean you should automatically be rewarded.
My post from yesterday was definitely not my best, but the point was that I needed to get something out. Even though what you’re working on may take you a ton of time to write or do, it may not be that good. And that’s okay. The opposite is also true: if it took you two minutes, it can be completely worth it. Be okay with good enough, move on and make something better.
I’ve had a battle with understanding what or what isn’t good enough. There was an entire season at the HEAT where the tag line was “good enough, ain’t enough.” In this context – playing a sport for a chance at a championship, you strive to be the best, because good enough won’t get you a trophy. However, there are times throughout the season/year where you don’t put in all of your effort, you lose games, you get injured, what feels like one step towards progress, you take 3 steps back. Yet, each step back is your chance to learn and improve.
While I was managing a gym, I remember posting what I thought was an inspiring quote - “strive for progress not perfection” - and I received backlash from this because some people felt that in a gym setting, you have to perfect a technique before advancing to the next. To each his own, but progress is the whole point and perfection is subjective, unless you’re the universe… which is a post for another day.
Understand that the effort that you put in to your work is enough. The added reward and bonus is that those who engage in your content choose to connect with you.