Is "Pretty Good" "Good Enough"?

[mrcaptainbob]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

I must've worked with yer brother! This guy told us that he used to wash and wax the UNDERSIDE of his car! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gifHe will NOT eat a banana if there's a brown spot on the skin! But the quality of his work was outstanding! It was always a pleasure to follow up on a job of his. Everything was neat and in order.

 

[dourobob]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

Harv
I bet your customers would have had trouble finding the "wrinkle" you saw in your finished product unless you ponted it out to them. Perspective is really the key here and you raise the further question "are most folks really their toughest ctitics"? I'm not saying that is a bad thing here, but it may mean a great deal of time is being spent reaching for a level of perfection that most customers never really expect.
Bob

 

[Bird]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

Harv, I think you've got the right handle on it. I've had a bit of a reputation of being a perfectionist myself, but I'm afraid a lot of people don't really understand what a perfectionist is. It's not that we do things perfectly, just that we want everything to be perfect, and as you said, it ain't gonna happen. As a result, we're never quite satisfied with hardly anything we do. And perhaps worse than that, we're never satisfied with what others do. The danger in that is that we tend to be too critical of both ourselves and other people. I think your comments show that you understand that and have reached a very good balance.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

Thank you Bird.

One of the things we haven't talked about here is the perfectionists that are frozen with fear. They don't attempt to do anything because they know they can't do it themselves to the level they'd like to have.

Two of my best friends are polishers. They spend more time polishing and cleaning than is healthy. One time I was helping one of them build his fence. He let me know he had a job open for me at his company. I would have a future.

I changed the perspective of the conversation to him working for me instead. He let me know it'd never work. One of us would be dead within thirty days. He couldn't work with my perfectionism. But he would sure like to have it working for him.

BTW I did take him up on his offer. It didn't work out. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Saying it was a tempest in a teapot would be an understatement. I was an inspector for his company. The fella that replaced me was asked if the truck he was driving was my old one. When he said it was he was told to leave for his own safety. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Someone might think I was back and shoot it full of holes. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

An interesting sidelight to this attitude is the kinds of people I generally get for customers. Usually they're referals. And most of the time they're very picky. I like picky customers. They appreciate good work.

Birds of a feather alive and well you think?

 

[Bird]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One of the things we haven't talked about here is the perfectionists that are frozen with fear. They don't attempt to do anything because they know they can't do it themselves to the level they'd like to have. )</font>

Yep, you definitely have a good understanding of "perfectionism." /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[RonL]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

Harv

This thread also strikes a nerve with me. I am of an extremely obsessive nature. I am very intolerant of things that are done half a** . I am most intolerant with myself. Some of my previous endeavors required a high level of attention to detail: firearms instructor, SWAT team leader. sniper. There was virtually no margin for error. Probably suited my personality. And probably irritated other people. The perspective of time has probably mellowed me in some aspects but made me more obsessive in others. I accept that other people are less obsessive than me. But I am more obsessive with myself.
Twenty some odd years ago I bought an apartment building in the City. It was a converted Victorian mansion that had a carriage shed and a fair size lot. The previous owner was a foreman for a construction company and had spent 30 years doing " repairs" to the building. I have spent the last twenty some odd years repairing the "repairs". Some of the things he did completely astounded me. I went up on the roof to strip it and put on a new roof. The previous owner had tarred the roof directly to the roof boards. After spending a whole day chiselling off two feet of the roof I gave up and roofed over the old roof. The electricity was a complete mess. When you turned a certain light on the rest of the lights would grow brighter. A porch was closed in by laying untreated wood on the soil. The list went on and on. Being at that point in my life where I am building my vacation/retirement home I am going by the mantra that I do not want to do this all over again. I do not want to be in my twilight years having to repair things that should have been done right the first time. Especially anything to do with sewerage. ( Don't ask! ). I bought a backhoe and dozer with the idea that i might hire out after I retire. But mostly i bought them with the idea that I'll have them on site and won't have to rush and do a half a** job because I need to get the contractors equipment to the next job. I can take my time and do each aspect right. Since I'm not on a fixed schedule I can lean towards that side of the line that is perfection and sacrifice some production. When people tell me something is good enough I nod and go about doing it the way I intend.
I think that people can be intellectually lazy also. This site and thousands of others offer a wealth of information. If you do the research there is no reason to go into a project blind. The knowledge is out there.
Enough of my ramblings.

RonL

 

[CJDave]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif "Pretty Good" is rarely good enough for me, and yes, i have been acused of being a perfectionist. Although I think that is an invalid assessment of my temperment and attitude, I am definitely one who wants things......even the ones nobody sees.......to be as right as they can be FROM A PRACTICAL STANDPOINT. If you've ever worked in a foreign country; especially Central America, Meh-he-ko, or the Middle East, you instantly become aware of the penalty for having a universal motto among those who build that states simply: "It DOESN'T MATTER." That motto; which is widely practiced, produces what I call "functional wrong". The water comes out of the faucet, but that's about it. Home repairs are notorious for being "functional wrong", and sometimes downright dangerous. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[gws]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

Good enough for who?

Take a common thread here. Harbor Freight, Hoemier tool sales. For some those are good enough quality tools, for others they are junk.

Good enough?

 

[Junkman]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

As one carpenter that was working on my house said to me at lunch time when I pointed out that the wall he was working on wasn't plumb.... "I won't see it from my house". He wasn't there after lunch to know how that wall turned out at the end of the day. I figured that I was going to be living in this house long after he was long gone and that it mattered enough to me to make sure that it was built the way that I wanted. That is why I took time off from work to supervise the work from start to finish. The workers that objected to my overseeing the job, didn't stay on the job very long. It might not be perfect, but it is built to my standard, which is "good enough for me"!!!!! Perfection like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. Has anyone seen my glasses??? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Henro]

Re: Is \"Pretty Good\" \"Good Enough\"?

Interesting thread. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

At some point in my life I learned that no matter how good, big, bad or indifferent I might think I am...there was always going to be someone just a little better, bigger, badder or more indifferent than me who would come along. And if he turned out to be my equal, he would probably just be having a better day than me when we met!

So I tend to do the best I can within my personal limits and live with that. I may not be as good at whatever I do as the better ones are, but I am often better at what I do than some others are.

I think this is good enough.

Might even be perfection! Who says perfection has to be perfect???

Wow! Maybe perfection is not an illusion after all... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif