Over the weekend, my husband was reading a book called Good to Great by Jim Collins. I haven’t read the book myself, but my husband is certainly enjoying it. It’s targeted toward those running businesses, trying to understand and explain why certain companies make it when others don’t. One of the first chapters is titled: Good is the Enemy of Great. Wow! Think about that for a moment. This concept can be applied to any number of situations beyond just the business world.
Take revisions for example. If I finished my first draft and sat back and said, “Well, that’s done. It may not be great, but it’s good enough,” then I could probably give up any hopes of furthering my writing career.
So what’s the enemy? Settling for “good enough” because we just don’t feel like working hard to make the book the best it can be? Most writers I know are anything but lazy when it comes to writing; it’s all we want to do.
I think more often it’s because we don’t see the areas that need improvement because we’re just too close to the project.
Time is often the enemy. Deadlines won’t let us write just when we feel most inspired. Time limits prevent us from allowing breaks long enough between edits to achieve a fresh eye. The only way around this is to trust the fresh eyes of our editors or critique partners. And then working like crazy to address what needs to be done. We may disagree on how to fix something, but chances are if an issue is brought up on a specific point or topic in the book, there’s a reason it was flagged by the reader (whether that reader is an editor or critique partner).
So this week I’m staving off the enemy of “good” to try approaching “great.” Now don’t worry, I’m not getting all puffed up and thinking myself to be great. But I do think my best effort can be better than just good. And that means not settling for less than my best. And since my writing is something I’m giving back to God, that means He’s my first audience. Why wouldn’t I want it to be my absolute best?
I love Mondays! I have the whole week ahead of me to remind myself of this concept. Good is the enemy of great. Remember that!
So it’s off to work for me…
Join Me!