“Perfection is the enemy of progress”. Said Winston Churchill, and a former CEO who frequently reminded me of it.
Which brings me to the case of my 11 year old's self-made school lunch. In social media terms, this morning's sandwich represents a 10x (week)day streak of getting up early to prepare it all by herself.
I've seen what those sarmies look like. And I won't lie, the sight of them horrifies me. Imagine a single slice of white bread with nothing but a patchy spread of peanut butter, unevenly folded in half and cut into something that resembles two squares. Sort of.
No actual butter, no symmetry, no finesse in any shape or form, and it will probably make a teacher wonder what kind of careless mother is heading up this household (not really, but that’s how the narrative runs in my mind).
However. Does she enjoy eating them? Apparently, a big yes. Does she feel fiercely independent making them? Another resounding yes. Does it empower her? Without a doubt. As far as feeding goes, this dodgy looking sarmie ticks more boxes than my perfectly cut triangles of low GI perfection ever will.
Bigger job, done.
True also for work. It’s easy to spend too much time on the stuff that makes us look good and feel good. But it often doesn’t grow those things in our charge by leaps and bounds (people, brands, results etc.).
It just smothers the life out of it.
The longer I do this, the more I am okay with releasing ‘good’ if it delivers ‘great’ in the bigger picture.
Because in the end, the bigger picture is what we’re here for, not the individual moments of glory.