Celebrating Good Enough: Letting go of Perfectionistic Ideals

In a world seemingly praising perfection, the thought of good enough seems like a dirty word. I second guessed making this statement several times in my marketing, thinking people would get the wrong idea of how I organize.

Good enough feels less than, sloppy and somehow Lazy! But what if good enough is indeed good enough?? What if loading the dishes on the counter into the dishwasher, moving the the clothes from the laundry basket to the laundry or simply making your bed was all you had time for this morning? What if putting the clothes away you folded last week was all you were motivated to do today? I'm a big believer in compounded action - small actions compile into larger actions.

Is it really important that our closet looks like something off a Pinterest board? Does this align with your values or goals? Does having a perfectly labeled pantry make you a better cook? What is our society's obsession with perfect? There's no medal for neatest closets or most ordered laundry room. Don’t get me wrong, an organized household does offer peace and ease of living and there are absolutely benefits to everything having a home. However, no one's analyzing the system you use to maintain it. Most people don’t open their pantries when their friends and family come to visit for inspection. If there's a basket on the stairs for anything that goes upstairs to keep the clutter from taking over your kitchen table that's a win! If your closet consists of a series of bins to toss your clothes into - folded or not - and that is maintainable for you, that's a win! Someone once told me, “perfect is the enemy of good.” Perfection doesn’t need to diminish the value of what you did that was good.

I find the majority of my clients struggle with starting - feeling overwhelmed with just where to begin.  All or nothing thinking takes over - I either need to do this WHOLE room/closet/space or none of it. I'm either getting rid of everything or keeping it all. The magnitude of these thoughts and emotions keep them stuck in indecision, and by default no decision is made. Sometimes guilt or shame poke their head in to top it off and we start a borage of “should’s.” What I preach to my clients is starting small. Starting somewhere - anywhere really. And challenging what I call the illusion of perfection, because it really is an illusion.

Perfection is not the norm. It's rarely, if ever, attainable. It's stressful, demoralizing and exhausting! This is why I believe it should not be the goal in what we strive for when it comes to organization systems for our homes. You will still look fashionable even if your clothes aren't color coded in your closet. Your food won't taste any better if your pantry is filled with hundreds of labeled ball jars and your sheets will still function even if they're crammed in a ball in the back of your linen closet. Our lives are busy enough. Each of us have enough things to stress over - maintaining your home shouldn't be one of them. The goal of organization is to simply your life, beauty is a bi-product of knowing where everything is and not having to fuss with it. Systems are created to reduce the amount of time spent on things that don't matter, so we can spend more time doing the things that bring joy to life. I've never met someone who said they find fulfillment in folding all their socks in perfect squares and placing each of them in its own individual compartment. Maybe that person exists, but I haven't met them and the amount of people I help just trying to keep things in order leads me to believe this is not typical behavior!

So what does good enough organization look like?

It looks different for every individual and every household. It also varies based on your priorities, goals, values and abilities. For one family, decanting foods into jars from their original packaging is doable, for another that just sounds like one more unnecessary thing to do. For a family member struggling with ADD, a system that requires too many steps to accomplish can be unmanageable. That's why it's so important to listen to our clients and discuss what works for them and what doesn’t. Your home should be just that, yours. A unique expression of the person you and your household members are. This extends into the systems that we create for our clients. By crafting areas that work with personality types and flow with their tendencies, we ensure success in not just maintaining organization but also benefiting from all that a well organized home offers - freedom from stress and hassle with household chores and more time to live.

Good enough organization takes advantage of strategic landing zones that create homes for every day items.

These can be an area(s) for mail, keys/purse/backpacks, clean and dirty clothes or a basket for "things to go downstairs/upstairs."

Good enough systems leave room for life to happen. It allows for the "I'm running late and don't have time to fold the shirt I chose not to wear" Or the "friends are coming over and I need to stuff some things away to tidy up". Maybe there was a sale on canned vegetables and you purchased more than you would normally. It saves space for the abnormal scenario or things "to be handled later.” Life shouldn't be so orchestrated that you can't stuff a little here and there so you have time to do what you love. Organization is meant to foster a freer life, it shouldn't inhibit it or add stricter rules to follow.

Another benefit of embracing this mentality, is that it allows for step one or 2 to happen now and steps 2 or 3 to happen at a later date.

For example, starting the return of an item and printing the label. Maybe even putting the return package together, but having somewhere to put it so you remember to grab it on the way out the door next time you leave. Doing some now and some later reduces the anxiety of having to do all of it now. It gives room to do a few things when you have a moment regardless of whether you'll have time to finish it. This mindset increases the likelihood of accomplishing a task, maybe even increasing the chances of doing something at all!

Today I washed the bathroom mirror and emptied the trash can before my mother in law came over to watch the baby. Felt random, but both things were bothering me and needed to get done, so I did what I could when I could.

So now what?

What have you been putting off because you felt if you started you had to finish it at the same time? What is an in-between step that you can add to a goal or system that gets you to closer to where you want to be? Ie. Basket on the stairs for things that go in the basement. What areas in your life do you need to give yourself a healthy dose of grace in and accept that perfection is not the goal? Maybe its a mindset that needs to change - the relief that comes with allowing yourself to settle where you are instead of striving for a version of yourself that is not sustainable. I’m here to say its ok to be good enough. In fact, I commend that good enough is good enough and encourage you to share this mindset with others! There’s freedom in surrender.