I Painted this. It doesn’t really have much to do with the article.

Never Good Enough

It’s hard to get anywhere when you think you’re already there.

Noah Bradley
2 min readOct 2, 2013

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I can’t write well enough. I can’t paint well enough. I’m not a good enough speaker. I don’t know enough. I’m not fit enough.

And that’s ok.

The day I am completely and wholly satisfied is the day I stop moving forward. I see the flaws in my work and life. I see room for growth. I see all of the things I should spend time bettering. I see areas to set goals. And as I accomplish those goals, I set still higher ones. If life is a race, there’s no finish line.

But don’t think I’m not happy. I’m thrilled. I look back and smile. It’s been a fun ride and I’m only just getting started.

Dissatisfaction doesn’t mean you have to hate yourself or what you do. I like myself. I like my paintings (well, some of them). I just know they’re not perfect. I look critically at myself and see where I want to push.

Seeing flaws can lead to paralysis. We make the mistake of thinking anything short of perfection isn’t worthy. We don’t try to publish our novel because it’s not perfect. Or show our newest painting. Or launch a new website. If it’s not perfect, why bother?

Because it’s not going to be perfect.

We have to push for perfection and be comfortable knowing we’ll never get there. It’s the struggle at the very core of creation. A push to improve towards an impossible goal. Reaching for something we’ll never attain.

And still we try.

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