In ministry, we’ve either heard it said or may have personally said things like, “it’s good enough” or “something is better than nothing.”
This type of language causes me to wince and cringe because it illustrates that the person saying it may have become numb to the dulling affects of mediocrity.
Regardless of the type of ministry work you do, you should do your absolute best to reflect God’s glory.
“Good enough” is simply not “good enough,” because it pampers a mindset that is comfortable with average—a mindset that should trouble you.
Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
I would rather see you do a few things extremely well than to do a ton of things so so. You never know, you may be on the verge of something great. So, press on. When it gets tough, lean into it and step it up. You may be surprised at the outcome.
Oh, and next time you use language like “something is better than nothing” or “it’s good enough,” just ask a friend to smack you in the head and make you pay $20 for the infraction.
8 Responses
June 10th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
This sounds good enough, but what do you do when your bosses think something is better than nothing? I try saying we should do a few things excellently instead of many just okay, or that we need to forsake some good ideas in favor of doing the best ideas well. But it’s often not effective.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Good question, Michelle. You might consider asking your bosses to put you to the test on a project that is mediocre in your view. If you are convinced you can make it better, then maybe challenge them on it (in a very respectful way of course!) and then demonstrate why better is better.
Also, in Jim Collins’ book, Good To Great, he talks about the Hedgehog principle. He also did a non-profit small book version of the same. To the extent that you can influence a shift of the internal culture toward hedge hogging, you will see long-term benefits. In some cases, less really is more.
Thanks for reading.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I’ve kicked this issue back and forth many, many times. I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to design. I can make what should have been a simple 30 minute project a monumental 4 hour project. I can have my copywriter and designer redo something until I think it is perfect. But the question that has to be asked on any project is: what is the purpose of this project, and, is it currently in a state that the purpose can be fulfilled? The other question is how do we define “good enough”. The context which is used here, is that good enough is not enough to please God. I don’t think that’s true. I believe that excellent is great, but it can get to a place where we’ve spent so much time and resources to get to excellent, we’ve lost focus of the goal. God wants to use us as his instruments and for his glory, but he doesn’t need us or our excellence.
I’ll stop here so that this comment doesn’t turn into an essay.
Definitely thought provoking!
June 12th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Bobby,
Excellent comments. In my experience, when someone says “that’s good enough,” they are usually settling for second best. That’s the mindset I’m seeking to counter with this post.
I agree that we can overkill and go too far in striving for excellence, but I often see the opposite problem with ministries.
You also ask some great questions, BTW. Thanks for taking time to respond.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
[...] a different angle, check out Kerry Bural’s post on Ministry Marketing Coach, and Shawn Wood’s post on his personal [...]
June 12th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Kerry,
What is in some cases “good enough” is just as effective as anything better?
I agree that in many cases ministries have been guilty of “not-good-enough”, but not sure that lumping actual “good enough” into that same camp is healthy.
For instance would a post-card designed to capture some names addresses and e-mail at an event that could take 30-minutes of design and effectively be good enough to attain said information be okay?
What I often see as the opposite of good enough is designers who would put 3-hours into that post-card to make it fit the brand of the church, making sure the CMYK’s all match up for correct printing and then finding just the perfect stock photo. It’s possible that this would actually be ineffective although pursuing excellence.
I don’t know where the good enough line is for every organization, but what I do know is if you don’t define it you will be on a never-ending search for excellence which is a moving target. I have been wrestling with this a ton over on http://www.shawnwoodwrites.com and asking questions about the effects of our ability to be effective as we chase the “excellence myth”.
Thanks for the post. I think we need to continue to push back on both sides of this issue with the goal of being effective for Jesus.
Shawn
June 12th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Shawn,
Thanks for your comments. Some good counter points to consider. I’ll check out your blog and posts on this. Please let me know if we can ever assist you.
June 20th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Those of you following this discussion may find it interesting to note that Seth Godin posted a very good (and short) post about this topic today in which he says, “The only way to get mediocre is one step at a time.”
You can check out the full post here:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/on-the-road-to-mediocrity.html
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