Good and Great

There is an interesting saying out there: the enemy of great is good.

I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time with that saying for a long time. After all, there are few things that anyone can be great at, but quite a few things that each of us can be good at.

And our work asks us to be good at a lot of different things. We even have to pretend to be able to multi-task.

But the enemy of great is good.

I’m writing this on a plane returning from Costa Rica, after spending ten days out of the country, disconnected from work, and totally connected with everything else. It was an opportunity to gain perspective.

One of the perspectives gained was that the enemy of great is good. I can be good at many things, but great at few. To help maximize the opportunity to be great at what I want to do, I determined that I need to say no to some of the good things that I am doing at both work and play.

Saying no to some of the good things I do will help maximize my opportunity to be great at a couple of things I want to get done.

If you take a look at things you are good at, what things could you say no to that would improve your work to great?