Is This Good Enough?

Unbelievable.

It’s impossible to get over the absolute shit condition of this road.

Yes, it’s out in the country a bit. Sure, it isn’t the most well travelled route. True, the only people to go this way besides myself are the farmers who live out here and the high school kids who come party in the orchards every Friday night after the stadium lights turn off.

But come on...a fucking doberman pinscher could hide in that pothole. And they know it’s there.  

Last winter they “fixed” it by dumping in fresh asphalt-turning the canyon into a speed bump, which lasted approximately 17 days. Then the top began to crumble and softball sized chunks of blacktop began littering the street, creating an obstacle course requiring the side-to-side action of a Formula 1 driver warming up his tires before the opening flag.

Frustrated, I’m now vocalizing (to myself, alone in the car) - Why can’t they do it right? Why can’t they fix this thing the right way! This isn’t good enough.

And when that phrase - good enough - came out, I realized what was going on.

It isn’t about the road, or the CalTrans workers who collect union wages while alternating between leaning on their shovels and rotating a ”stop” sign to “slow.” It isn’t about the incompetent asphalt mixer who clearly fucked up the ratio of tar-to-pebble when prepping that absolute hack job of road re-construction.

It’s that I can relate. Earlier in the day while struggling to find the right words in an important email, I cobbled something together and declared it was good enough. But at the time I knew it wasn’t. I knew it was a hack job, but justified it because I was ready to move on.

Never. Again.

Good enough is never good enough.

Things are either good, or they’re not.  

Your homework this week: Where do you leave jobs unfinished? What things do you claim are “good enough” when you know you can do better? 

Next time you catch yourself justifying that something is “good enough,” take a quick step back. Is it actually good? Or is that a cop-out so you don’t have to spend the time and energy to do it right?  

And if you’re OK with the half-ass work, then go apply at CalTrans - you’ll fit right in.

Be great,

Danny Lehr