Not good at good enough

You may (or may not) have heard the saying, "Good enough for government work." Well, I may be good enough to work for government, but I’m not good at Good Enough.

[Ed’s Note – The phrase “good enough for government work” is a traditional saying, and should in no way be taken as a criticism of the public service or the government at large. We are proud to recognise the high standards and quality work of the vast majority of public servants. Please don’t sue me. Thank you.]

Perhaps a better, if less linguistically satisfying, way of saying the same thing is that I like to do things well (well, as well as I can anyhow), and I become profoundly irritated when I am rushed to complete a task in what I consider to be a less than adequate amount of time.

Ok, perhaps an even better way to say it is as follows: I don’t like deadlines, at least not ones I haven’t made myself.

This is a problem because I am, at heart, a plodder. I am “all tortoise all the time.” I would be a shoo-in (shoe-in?) for the Meanderer’s Olympics. I am kin to sloth, koala, and Heinz ketchup (anyone remember that old commercial “An-ti-ci-pa-a-tion?”).

In other words, I do things in my own sweet time. And I like it that way.

The world, by and large, does not.

On February 8th (Confessions of a Word Junkie), I wrote, ‘… in a society which sees speed as a virtue in itself, in which the art of discourse and rhetoric have been replaced by the sound-bite and bullet points, brevity has indeed become "the soul of wit"(Shakespeare) - even at the expense of meaning.’ I am convinced speed is the ultimate modern virtue: more important than truth; more important than skill; and certainly more important than quality.

You know what I say to that? “Bollocks!”

I am tired of being forced into doing a half-assed job because of arbitrary (and generally impossible) deadlines or because someone, somewhere didn’t think through the process properly in the first place. I CARE about my work, damn it. When I produce something, I want it to be the best “fill-in-the-blank-here” that I can make it. I want to do the research properly, to think about the appropriate structure, to use exactly the right words, to produce a layout that is effective and consistent. In other words, I want to make sure that the things I create will actually do the job they’re supposed to do in the first place.

And all that takes time. Too much time, mostly.

So, as a result I rarely get the opportunity to do a truly good job. “Good enough” seems to be all there’s time for – and everybody seems impressed with the results but me. Maybe “good enough” is all that’s necessary most of the time. Maybe it’s more productive not to waste time on excellence when it’s not absolutely required. Maybe everything doesn’t need to be up to that “gold standard.” I’m sure that’s all true -- but I really don’t care.

You see, my work is – under all circumstances – a reflection of who I am. And I am not, and will never be, “good enough.” I am better. Much, much better.

So there.