How To Know When Good Is Better Than Perfect
Sometimes achieving perfection is effort well spent. Perfection can be a worthy goal in itself, without any practical necessity for exactitude. Striving for impractical perfection can be a surprisingly effective business strategy. Consider Rolex — do they need to measure to the micron? In some circumstances, perfection may be essential the task at hand. And then there is the rest of life — where perhaps “good enough” should be, well, good enough. When the matter at hand doesn’t require perfection, “the perfect is the enemy of the good.”
If you are like most of our readers, you probably have a responsibility where the difference between good and perfect is significant, and you strive for excellence. For some people it takes focus and willpower to commit to getting the very best result possible. For others, it comes naturally. And then for some, perhaps it comes a little too naturally. Knowing how to strive for perfection is an important component of success. Knowing when to let go of perfection and move forward with “good enough” is crucial to both success and happiness. Read on to find out more about satisficers vs maximizers, including four tips for letting go of perfection when it is more of a burden than an asset.
Are You A Satisficer?
Coined by Nobel-prize winning economist Herb Simon in 1956, the word “satisficing” describes decision making systems aimed at finding an adequate solution rather than searching more thoroughly for the optimal solution.
We can classify ourselves by our patterns and habits of thought. Some people’s normal approach to decision making involves looking for an option that is good enough. When a choice that is good enough comes along, they choose it, and the process is complete. There might have been another choice that they could have found that would make them happier. If you truly a satisficer, you will probably just shrug at that concern. Good enough is, by definition, good enough. Better would probably have not been better enough to warrant further effort in choosing, and you are not stressed over the outcome. A beautiful sunset does not have to be perfect to be enjoyable.
Or Are You A Maximizer?
If you pride yourself on being able to make a detailed analysis of any choice, carefully weigh all the factors, and get the very best possible result, you are a maximizer. The good news is, your fascination with optimizing every choice yields better results. For instance, a recent study showed that college students with maximizer habits earned 20% higher salaries in their first job than college students with satisficing habits. Careful consideration pays off with measurable results. Unfortunately, not all the measurable results are so good.
Maximizers feel compelled to consider every single alternative available. When there is not enough time for careful consideration, the maximizer may experience stress. Maximizers tend to consider external sources important in assessing success, relying on facts or social comparisons to determine how they should feel. The answer, too often, might be “good, but not good enough.” The self-applied pressure to succeed in everything can make a maximizer feel inadequate. Studies show maximizers experience lower levels of happiness and self esteem than their satisficing peers.
So what can you do if your natural instinct is to try to maximize the results of every decision? Here are four tips to help maximizers choose a satisificer’s approach more often.
First Decide: Do I Need to Optimize This?
For every choice you make, ask “What are the consequences of settling for good enough?” You may find a lot of details you struggle with do not matter enough to merit consideration. If you are choosing the site for a deep sea oil drilling rig, every detail is crucial. If you are deciding where to eat lunch, you could abstain from the decision making process and discover something serendipitous. If you want to take a week long voyage on a charter yacht, you might want to choose the company carefully. (Both in terms of who provides the yacht and who comes along.) On the other hand, if you don’t know the region you’ll be sailing in, you might want to let the charter yacht company choose the itinerary.
If you need to make decisions with other people, letting go of details that are not so important can make the process vastly easier. You don’t have to let go of all details, and your ability to optimize is important sometimes. But before you make that chart of pros and cons, ask yourself — is it worth the effort? Choosing when to use your optimizing skills carefully leaves you more time and energy to apply them when they do matter.
Then Define “Good Enough”
If you see the choice you are making does not require perfection, you are halfway to satisficing. But you still need to know when to stop searching. Define what “good enough” is and stick with it. Select your criteria and resolve to choose whichever course of action first meets the needs you have defined. Resolve to be satisfied as soon as you find something satisfactory.
Don’t Judge
Now you have made a decision without optimizing. You’ve decided to let go of the details. You have committed to recognizing some little things don’t matter. Maintain that commitment. The urge will be powerful, but try to resist. Do not even ask yourself if you succeeded. Don’t rate the adequacy of your effort. Just enjoy your choice for what it is. Isn’t that liberating?
Delegate and Trust Others
Psychologist Dan Gilbert has dedicated his life to studying happiness and decision making. Gilbert observes that maximizers believe their needs and perspectives are unique. They will seek information from others to build a web of analysis, but they don’t trust the final recommendation of another person. According to Gilbert, we are surprisingly alike, including, ironically, in our conviction that we are unique. Simply selecting someone you generally trust that has faced the same choice what they recommend is often a better guide than painstaking examination.
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