So I bought a SMOVE…  which is a super-cool, smartphone video stabilizer that is really a selfie-stick with LOTS of pro features added. (I recorded an un-boxing video below.)

Last night I started learning how to use it and promptly thought… “Crap, this is going to take me longer than just 15 minutes to understand.” 

So I experienced a little frustration… so what?

Then this morning, I happened to run into a blog post by Seth Godin talking about people that settle for “good enough.”

He writes about people that are “good enough” at their craft or work and get complacent with where they are in life, in their business or in their relationships.

When is it OK to “give up on learning something?” When is good enough, just that… good enough?

I really don't know the answers to those questions, but it makes me think about where in my life I might be settling for “good enough” and not pushing myself to get through those first frustrating moments, days, weeks or months to reach a new “better.”

I've never seen myself as a quitter, but I have quit along the way on learning something, so I guess that makes me a “selective quitter.”

I'm a big believer in “good enough.”

In order to take massive action in my business, I almost always settle for good enough.

If I waited until I got something perfect, Don and I would probably still be looking for change in the couch and eating macaroni and cheese.

Most importantly, I have been willing to be “dumb on the way to being smart.”

Still am.

(I still really don't know much about my iPhone) 🙂

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The First Fifteen Minutes- Seth Godin

Learning something new is frustrating. It involves being dumb on the way to being smart.

Once we get good enough (at our tools, at our work) it's easier and easier to skip learning how to do the next thing, because, hey, those fifteen minutes are a hassle.

Learning to use the new fax machine, or a different interface on the voice mail or even, yikes, a new version of Photoshop. (I confess that I dropped off the Photoshop train a half dozen versions ago, much to my chagrin.)

And so we get in the habit of giving a half effort, not really reading the instructions, shrugging our shoulders and moving on. The professional in us that was always eager to find tools that added leverage becomes the complacent coaster, defending what's on the table as ‘good enough'.

The problem with evaluating the first fifteen minutes of frustration is that we easily forget about the 5,000 minutes of leverage that frustration earns us if we stick it out.

Yes, Isaac Asimov typed all 400 of his books on a manual typewriter. But I'm glad Cory Doctorow has a laptop.

xo,​K

Here's the Unboxing Video for SMOVE