Am I Good Enough?

That is the question so many of us ask ourselves.  And others.

Why?

Why is external validation so important?

And how can we know when we’re good enough?

In their book, Art & Fear, authors David Bayles and Ted Orland share the story of a ceramics class.

The teacher divided the class into two groups.

One group was to be graded by the quantity of their work.  Their grade was to be determined by the weight of all the pots they submitted.  The more pots, the greater the weight, the better their grade.

The other group was to be graded on the quality of one pot.  Which meant the one they submitted had to be perfect.

You might be able to guess what happened.

The quality of pots submitted by the “quantity” group exceeded that of the “quality” group.

Why?

Because the quantity group learned from their mistakes, made adjustments and kept improving their output, while the quality group “sat theorizing about perfection,” rather than doing the work.

Since reading this vignette years ago, it continues to feed me and my creative work.

Harvard Business Review published a blog post by Heidi Grant Halvorson in February 2011 titled, “Nine Things Successful People Do Differently”.  It remains one of the more popular posts on their blog.

One of the things she cited was a “focus on getting better, rather than being good.”

These two ideas fit very nicely together.

The more pots you make, the better your pots will get.  And if you focus on getting better, you will eventually be not only good enough, but among the best at your craft.

But, despite what it appears, this isn’t about being “the best”.  Or being “successful”.

Both are very distracting ideas.  Like being “good enough,” they are born out of a desire for external validation.

My maternal grandfather was a master gardener.  His tomatoes exploded in your mouth.  My grandmother would can his tomatoes so we could make homemade vegetable soup throughout the winter.

Not many outside our family new my Pop had perfected his tomatoes over years of trial and error.  Which meant just a few of us (in a world approaching seven billion people) got to experience and celebrate them.

Pop’s joy was in the craft of growing tomatoes each year.  And in seeing if each year’s patience and practice yielded a delightful crop.

He knew.  Even when the tomatoes tasted incredible, he knew if they fell short of his discerning tastes.

Like my Pop, my joy lies in my craft and the challenge it brings me.

It’s what gets me out of bed.

It’s what keeps me from going to bed.

It feeds me.

And in feeding me, I’m able to feed the heads and hearts of a few others.

More than I ever expected, actually.

But the reality is this: I’m not good enough.  Never will be.

My creative work will never be good enough either.

I always see ways I (and my work) can get better.

Because I deeply care about it. 

And that is good enough for me.

I hope your creative work is good enough for you, as well.

Let it spill over for others.

Keitharsis is a blog for creative writers and artists.  It seeks to help you find fresh perspectives and inspiration for doing your work.  New essays are published each Tuesday and Thursday.  A creative exercise is published each Wednesday.

Comments

[Lizzie]

Very true. I don't often put this fear of mine into words, but the anguish that goes into each blog post is enough to tell me that I'm terrified. But I can write, so I'll focus on the quantity and allow the quality to bubble through with time. Great reminder, thanks.

[Grayson Pope]

Keith,

Thank you for this. It's way too easy to look for validation for ourselves and our work. I'm always working on looking upwards for my validation instead of outwards.

[Joe Bunting]

I love that story about the ceramics class. Every time I think of it, it makes me want to create and create a lot.

[Keith Jennings]

Lizzie,

We work in a strange tension, as writers and artists. On the one hand, we must serve the idea or inspiration in front of us at the time we're working. On the other, we want what we're doing to connect with others.

We can serve the idea to the exclusion of others. Or we can sacrfice the idea in our desparation to please. The reality is must remain effective within this tension.

Great comment! Thank you for sharing!

[Adrian W.]

Being good enough for myself is a challenge that I face on an almost daily basis. How do we overcome that?

[Keith Jennings]

Grayson,

Very nice! By the way, I enjoyed your meditation, "The Walls Crumble," on Michael Perkins' blog "The Handwritten." Well done!

[Keith Jennings]

Joe,

Me too! Have you read that book? It's a must read for every Creative.

[Chad Thomas Johnston]

Great blog entry, good sir. Really. I continue to soldier on, hammer away, hit my thumb, curse, rejoice, and do it all over again like an absurd dance done by someone with amnesia. It's a wonderful process, and without it I would surely be a lesser person. :) Keep on creating, Keith!

[Larry Carter]

I'm not good enough. But neither is anyone else. I don't want to be good enough. I want to be great.

[Nissi]

“focus on getting better, rather than being good.” What a gem! I will share this one with my High School Seniors. I am working on a ten minute recording of a song for an alumni party (for a decade of previous high school students) and there is no way it'll be close to perfect for a lack of funds and time. But I will share this quote with all and they will get inspired by this one.

[Keith Jennings]

Chad,

You are so right! That's exactly how it is.

Thank you for reaching out!

[Keith Jennings]

Adrian,

I completely get what you're saying! My response may surprise you: DON'T overcome that.

The way we get better is by taking the problems and imperfections in our current work and working them out in future work.

So let those feelings of never being "good enough" drive you to constantly seek measurable improvements in your work. Just pick one thing each time to do better.

As an example, I tell my boys when they practice baseball or play a game, to pick one thing to do well. One game it will be hitting. The other, base running. And another, fielding.

When you look back five or ten years after making incremental improvements everyday, you'll be blown away by how "good" you've gotten.

[Keith Jennings]

Larry,

"Great" is abstract and can be a fleeting ideal. I completely get what you mean. And what you're saying. But I'd challenge others reading this to work toward ongoing incremental, measurable improvements each and every time they do their work.

Then, maybe, "great" will pay us visit!

Thank you so much for continuing to extend the conversation here, Larry!

[Keith Jennings]

Nissi,

That's great! Don't forget to give a hat tip to the source of that gem of a line: Heidi Grant Halvorson on Harvard Business Review's blog. If you click on her name in the post it will link you to her piece.

[Jason vana]

I love this mindset, Keith. I used to be a huge perfectionist. I would sit and think out a project, how to make it awesome and perfect, long before I sat down to do the work. It stopped me from actually doing anything. But when the focus moves from being perfect to being better, it gives me the courage to start, knowing that the first time I do something it might not be the greatest, but it will get better. It will always get better.

[Keith Jennings]

Thanks Jason! I, too, am a recovering perfectionist. Or are we reformed perfectionists?

[georgia]

another excellent post! i've struggled for years with being frustrated with myself for not being able to perfect the art of "less is more". in design, it's a concept that is extremely elevated. so where i tend to be a "more is more" person, i get down on myself for not measuring up to that standard of "good" design. your essay has helped me to see that it's okay to practice "less is more" in hopes of achieving it, rather thank expecting to achieve it when it's just not quite in me yet. even though you are a writer and you write often about your writing {or writing in general}, it's resounding how much what you say can apply to any creative field... or any endeavor, for that matter. so glad i found your blog! {and thank you for the thoughtful comment on my post about you the other day.}

[Keith Jennings]

Georgia,

First of all, I absolutely love your photography! I've spent some time looking at your portfolio.

I'm so happy you get something from this blog. I write to the creative spirit of others and I've always wanted the ideas here to have relevance and application beyond writing. And beyond a single ideology.

So thank you! Thank you for reading and giving this blog a chance in your creative life!

[georgia]

thank you so much, keith! feel free to use any photo of mine if you ever find/need/want one that would work well with your essay/post.

i love today's word-in-a-word! the typography enthusiast in me loves the idea of your w.i.a.w series.

[Keith Jennings]

Thanks Georgia!