I had a lengthy conversation with a good friend the other day in which we talked about the concept of “enough”. One outcome of the “Great Recession” is that we had a national conversation about “enough”. How much house is “enough”? How many cars are “enough”? Is it “enough” to have last year’s smart phone model? Many folks noticed that they were living a life thinking that more was better - they never thought they had “enough”. We all know now the economic ramifications of this kind of thinking.
The conversation with my friend centered around a personal concept of “enough”. We each told stories of risks we didn’t take or challenges we didn’t face because we believed were weren’t “enough” - smart enough, pretty enough, experienced enough, knowledgable enough, etc.
In Seth Godin’s new book, Poke the Box, he discusses the importance of taking action on the great ideas we all generate from time to time. Unfortunately, most of us don’t act on our ideas because we are afraid of something - failure, looking stupid, we are not (fill in the blank) enough. In fact, Godin says, “If you can’t fail at it, it’s not worth doing.”
The good news (or the bad news depending on your viewpoint) is that there will always be someone smarter, better looking, richer, more knowledgable, etc. If you wait to believe you are the “most” or “best” at something, you will be waiting a long time. Then you will see someone else implement “your” idea and you will realize that they are not smarter, better looking, richer, or more knowledgable, but they took the risk.
So, today is the day to start believing you are enough and GO!