Friday’s Favourite Five 18FEB2011

Comments

1. Jo

   February 18, 2011 at 5:51 am

   Interesting having the two points of view here – one, the perfectionist outlook which is helped by saying, “it’s good enough”, and two, the quality outlook, which is helped by saying, don’t settle for “it’ll do”. I think what this says is that there is a balance to strive for, and that’s a great message!
   • Colleen

     February 18, 2011 at 7:26 am

     Hi Jo,
     very clever of you to notice that as it wasn’t my intention to place them together for that reason but it is kind of a juxtaposition isn’t it. Probably not a smart move on reflection. I suppose this happened because my thoughts of each topic were not running along the same lines. Resisting the need for perfection because it can be detrimental to trying was where I was going with one. While settling for second best when purchasing items causing dissatisfaction later resulting in making another purchase was where I was going with the other. But another person with a different stream of thinking could be shuffling down a path of destructive confused thinking. I would be interested in what thoughts were running through your head Jo.
     • Jo

       February 18, 2011 at 3:45 pm

       I agree, there are two ideas here that should be kept separate and not contaminate each other! LOL

       However, the linked post was co-mingling the ideas (very naughty), at least in my reading of it. I thought the first part of the post was promoting excellency as something we should ALWAYS strive for. Sometimes, however, “good enough” and “it’ll do” are fine. Example: sweeping the floor.

       And, sometimes “best” is wiser, as in the writer’s example, later in the post, of buying quality shoes which she will wear frequently and which must be comfortable.

       Therefore, I was trying to point out that properly assessing the circumstances is the key to making the decision “good enough” or “best”. Figure out which is actually required. Life requires that we find a balance or we’ll go mad from lack of time or energy to do everything perfectly.

       I hope I haven’t offended anyone with this explanation – quality over quantity is a great message and fits with both the decluttering message and the environmental-impact message. And striving to do one’s best is only a bad thing if you are a perfectionist and your “best” causes you to sit frozen while there is work to be done!
       • Colleen

         February 19, 2011 at 11:03 am

         Hi Jo,
         I don’t think you would offend anyone with your point of view here. You certainly haven’t offended me. In fact I am glad you pointed out this faux pas. Having both these ideas sitting along side each other almost proves your point that properly assessing the circumstances is the key to making the decision “good enough” or “best”. It is totally a personal choice to figure out which is actually required by us and how we react. Just as it is possible to overcome the extremes of both.
2. Loretta

   February 18, 2011 at 8:00 am

   Thanks for the guynameddave link – it’s a good post!

   I’ve just got to share a marvellous uncluttering book I’m reading: Clutter busting by Brooks Palmer (he has a great blog too, if you haven’t seen it). He has lots of interesting things to say about clutter and the mind. I thought I was getting really good at getting rid of things, but man, he has had me going through my house with different eyes! Highly recommended.
   • Cindy

     February 18, 2011 at 8:29 am

     Clutter Busting sounds interesting. I put it on hold at my library.
   • Nurchamiel

     February 18, 2011 at 11:52 pm

     That’s interesting! I will give it a look!
   • Colleen

     February 19, 2011 at 10:50 am

     Hi Loretta,
     I took a quick look at the web site and a video or two and he seems to really know his stuff. I will have to subscribe his his blog.