Phrases We Should Stop Using, Pt. VII: Good and Great?

It's been a while since I've added to my series on "Phrases We Should Stop Using."  Check out the previous posts below.  This time, I'm thinking about how we sometimes say that "Good is the enemy of great."  Like many of the posts in this series, the phrase definitely has some truth to it.  There's no doubt that settling for something good can rob you of the opportunity to enjoy something great.  However, I'm wondering today first whether it's worth it, and second whether it's a bad thing.

Saying "Good is the enemy of great" is usually an encouragement to leaders struggling in decision making.  The recipient of the advice may be facing a few "good" options and wondering whether there's an even better one out there.  Is it worth it, however, to delay until a best option is found?  Maybe something better is out there, but what if the situation is one in which doing nothing at all is the worst option?  In that case, by waiting on good options until the best is found, the advice-giver is actually encouraging the person to de facto take the worst option.  I'm concerned that, in many situations, the delay in decision-making may not be worth the potential upside from an improved slate of options.  Thus, before we take this advice, a wise leader will realize the full array of pros and cons facing him or her, weighing the degree to which the unknown "best" option could be better versus the pain from avoiding a decision.  The leader will decide how long they are willing to wait before the pain outweighs the gain.

Another angle I'm wondering about is whether or not it's even a good thing to avoid "good" options in search of a "great" option.  Is there always a great option even out there?  Are we proven fools if we avoid a "good" option, only to eventually have to come back to it after spending a great deal of time looking for a better plan?  The wise leader needs to also weigh the probability that there even is a "best" option out there before taking this advice.  Leaders must be highly comfortable with making decisions without all the available facts if they want to remain nimble and quickly effective.  Otherwise they will move slowly and miss many opportunities.  I'm further convinced that it's a testament to wisdom when someone makes a decision without looking back and frequently questioning themselves.  The outcome will generally be best by applying fully to one option, rather than continuing to waffle after stepping out.

Isn't life filled with opportunities to make the best out of the options we have?  Isn't character developed by committing to one thing and sticking with it?  If we aren't careful with the advice of "good is the enemy of great," we'll apply it to the wrong situations.  Marriage isn't about finding the perfect option, it's about choosing to love an imperfect person just like yourself and turning a blind eye to other potential "options" once you've made the choice.  Looking for the perfect job either leaves you with an empty resume or one where you've clearly hopped from job to job on a whim.  We need to be more comfortable with recognizing, "You know, all these options are good ones and I am capable of realizing good things in any of them."  Instead of a perfectionist preoccupation with the perfect, wisdom is the ability to make the best out of what we have, flexibly and quickly making decisions and moving forward.


Previous posts in the series:

1. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
2. You can do anything you set your mind to
3. Live like you were dying
4. The least of these
5. Don't judge a book by its cover
6. Time is money