Hello Reader,

How many times have you felt your best was ‘not good enough’?

I hope you have said ‘never’, in which case I love you and see you in the next Playbook! 😃

Otherwise, keep reading.

In today’s playbook we will analyse two realistic ways to eliminate this feeling of ‘not good enough’.

Let's check it out.

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‘My best is not good enough’

This is a thought that may be imposed by others, or it may come naturally when we have tried something multiple times and it hasn’t had the result we expected.

There are two possible ways to solve this problem. You can either downgrade the “good enough” or upgrade “your best”. Let’s analyse each and see where they lead us.

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Downgrade the ‘good enough’

Many people and institutions have unreasonable standards.

Unreasonable standards may be caused by other people, but they may also be caused by perfectionism — this personal tendency to expect high standards (often, in pretty much everything).

That means it doesn’t matter how hard you work, the standards would always be higher than you (or pretty much anyone in their normal state) would be able to achieve.

Many pride themselves in these unreasonable expectations, leading them or others to the verge of (and sometimes to actual) burnout.

The solution to this problem is in the R of SMART goals — which stands for Realistic.

In practice, realistic means: Do you have the resources needed to achieve that goal?

If the answer is ‘No', then obviously you will never arrive there, regardless of how much you try. You just don’t have the resources!

And when I talk about the resources, I am talking about:

• time
• skills
• knowledge
• mental energy
• material resources
• financial resources
• human resources (i.e. support from others)

So, if you feel you are under high expectations and you want to ‘downgrade the good enough’, limit the scope of your project to your currently available resources.

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Upgrading your ‘best’

You can’t think clearly if you are out mental energy and need desperately to sleep or rest. What is best? Go to your bed or end on a hospital bed?

It turns out your best is also limited by your available resources.

And the good news is that you can acquire more resources.

If you need:

• more time, negotiate for more time or improve your systems.
• improved skills, do some training or look for help.
• knowledge, look for sources or training opportunities.
• mental energy, rest and do things that boost your energy.
• material or financial resources, negotiate or borrow more (as appropriate).
• human resources, collaborate with others or hire someone to help (as appropriate).

The best you can do now doesn’t need to be your all-time best. If you feel you aren’t achieving what seems like reasonable expectations, then improve your available resources.

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So, the solution to the problem all lies in your available resources.

It is never the case that “you are not good enough”. Instead, “your resources are not enough”.

But beware!!

If you upgrade your resources to achieve an expectation, make sure the expectation doesn’t shift with it.

It is very common that we (or others) realise: 'oh, you have more resources now? Let me make your goal harder (and unrealistic) again!'

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So, what will be? Downgrading the good enough or upgrading your best?

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Talk to you soon!

Until then, take care.

Bianca

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