Small Wins, Steady Progress

There's a lot to love about having this podcast. There's also, as we discovered during our summer break, a lot to love about not doing all the work that goes into making a podcast. We weren't ready to give up our conversations, though, so we decided to make a few things easier. Simple, right? Except Shannon found herself worrying about what might happen if we did less.It's funny how something that doesn't seem particularly risky can start to feel like a big deal. And how we can be perfectly willing to take on genuinely scary challenges while avoiding much smaller decisions. We got curious about what's going on there, including whether some of our procrastination might be fear in disguise. And we eventually found ourselves discussing the surprisingly difficult business of choosing where to go for dinner. That led to a possibly trademark-worthy idea—and so much laughter that actually finishing the recording became a challenge of its own.What We Talk About01:28 – Wondering whether our podcast break meant we were ready to stop, and finding a way to keep going with less work02:49 – Why cutting back on editing and social media felt surprisingly risky04:14 – Remembering what actually matters to us about the podcast (hint: it's not the download numbers)05:44 – Shannon's "risk drift": When something starts feeling much riskier than it really is07:46 – The connection between risk, fear, and making progress, including Janine's observation that she's less "wanty" these days08:42 – Why Shannon can embrace scary challenges but get stuck on everyday decisions09:52 – How fear of unpleasantness, failure, or wasted effort might contribute to procrastination12:19 – The difficulty of choosing where to go for dinner, a simple way to narrow the options, and our plans to trademark the techniqueKey TakeawaysRisk can creep into decisions without us realizing it. Shannon noticed that she sometimes worries about consequences that aren't particularly likely—or even relevant to what she's trying to accomplish.Knowing what matters changes how risky something feels. Once we remembered why we make this podcast, the possibility of losing listeners by doing less promotion didn't seem nearly so consequential.Fear isn't always obvious. Shannon enjoys consciously choosing to do scary things. It's the less recognizable fear of getting something wrong that can keep her from making ordinary decisions.Procrastination and risk may be more connected than we thought. Janine's desire to avoid unpleasant tasks got us wondering whether several of the productivity blocks Shannon has identified are really about the risk of not getting the experience or result we want.Sometimes a couple of options are all you need. Shannon's solution to the "I don't care, you choose" dilemma makes deciding easier for everyone involved. Janine thinks it might be worthy of a trademark.The Bottom LineWe started out thinking about the risks of doing less and ended up noticing how easily the risks we perceive can get in the way of making decisions. We're curious about what might happen when we recognize those fears instead of letting them quietly steer us. And while we haven't actually trademarked Shannon's decision-making method, we did manage to laugh so hard that recording our closing became an almost impossible task. Which seems like pretty good evidence that we've managed to preserve the fun part of making this podcast.Want More Like This?Episode 12: ProcrastinationWe explore four different productivity blocks that can keep us from getting things done, including the role fear plays in procrastination. It's a great companion to our new curiosity about whether perceived risk might be lurking behind some of those blocks.Episode 75: Letting Go of FearFear isn't always obvious, and sometimes it keeps us stuck without our even realizing it. We talk about how fear relates to perfectionism and explore ways to recognize and move past it. A particularly close connection to Shannon's realization about the fears hiding in ordinary decisions.Episode 227: Making Tough Choices EasierNot every decision deserves the same amount of energy. We talk about reducing the number of choices we have to make, narrowing our options, and saving our brainpower for the decisions that really matter. A natural companion to our newly discovered (and not yet trademarked) dinner-decision technique.Connect With UsWe'd love to hear from you. How do you handle risk? What helps you make decisions when you're feeling stuck?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!Shannon's Anti-Procrastination Quiz

Janine has a new idea of fun: learning every country in the world. She can now locate every country in Africa, has Europe down to Russia, is working on South America and the Middle East, and is cheerfully inviting Barry to name a country so she can show off. The excitement is not subtle.Part of what makes it so satisfying is all those tiny moments of achievement along the way—but Janine also loves the feeling that she’s exercising her memory and expanding what she knows. She reviews countries every day so they don’t fall out of her head, tests herself on blank maps, and invents little tricks to remember what goes where. That gets Shannon and Janine thinking about brain fitness, the pleasure of learning, and other projects that work the same way—from Janine’s stair-climbing project to the much slower process of Shannon’s recovery from concussions. Sometimes progress gives you a score immediately. Sometimes you have to look back years later to see it.What We Talk About00:44 Janine’s inordinately exciting quest to learn the countries of the world—and her concern that learning new ones might make Africa fall out of her head.02:05 How GeoGuesser is helping Janine learn geography, plus her extra memory test: filling in unlabeled maps on paper.03:13 The appeal of micro-achievements, figuring out ways to remember unfamiliar countries, and Shannon’s memories of getting better at geography by playing Worldle.05:11 The MapTap game that started Janine’s geography project, including satellite maps, wildly imperfect guesses, and little bits of history.06:51 Another geography game Shannon enjoys: figuring out which countries you’d travel through to get from one country to another.09:42 Why learning geography feels both fun and useful—and how knowing where countries are helps Shannon and Janine make a little more sense of the world.10:09 A project with a finish line, frequent achievement, and maybe even some brain fitness: why this reminds Janine of her stair-climbing project.11:00 Teasing apart what makes incremental projects appealing, then shifting to Shannon’s experience of noticing gradual improvements in her brain and body after years of concussion-related challenges and migraines.Key TakeawaysProjects can be especially appealing when they let you make progress in small increments and feel a sense of achievement along the way.Memory and learning can become their own kind of practice when you revisit what you’ve learned, test yourself in different ways, and find little cues that help things stick.Activities that challenge the brain can be satisfying not just because you’re learning something, but because you can feel yourself using abilities you want to keep exercising.Looking at what makes an enjoyable project appealing can offer clues about how to make less appealing projects easier to engage with.Gradual improvement can be hard to notice while it’s happening, so paying attention to what has changed over time can make progress easier to see.The Bottom LineSome progress gives you a satisfying 100-percent score before breakfast. Some shows up when you realize you can remember countries that once looked like anonymous shapes on a map. And some is so gradual that you only recognize it years later, when something that once triggered a migraine—like moving your head during cat-cow—has become completely ordinary. Whether it’s geography, physical fitness, or getting a brain that has been through a lot to work better, the small increments can be both the practice and the reward.Want More Like This?Episode 212: A Little at a TimeShannon and Janine talk about how systems and solutions can develop incrementally rather than appearing fully formed, including how Shannon built her meal-planning system one small improvement at a time. A natural companion to this episode’s fascination with projects that grow through steady, visible progress.Episode 182: GamificationFrom Duolingo to Zombies, Run! to To-Do List Bingo, Shannon and Janine explore how turning something into a game can make it more fun and rewarding. It connects nicely with the geography games that have Janine so delighted to keep learning.Episode 154: Stepping Out of Your Comfort ZoneJanine and Shannon talk about the pleasure—and discomfort—of being new at something, including Janine’s realization that she actually enjoys challenges when she doesn’t yet know whether she can achieve them. That same delight in learning and stretching shows up all over Janine’s geography project.Connect With UsWe’d love to hear from you. How do you deal with incremental change? How do you take on new projects? What are you having fun doing now?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!GeoGuessr - The Ultimate Map Quiz SiteTravle - Get Between Countries in as Few Guesses as PossibleStatele - Guess the StateWorldle - Guess the Country

Shannon thought she had two hours before recording. Then freshly out of the shower, she realized she had just five minutes before they were supposed to start. Somewhere in there, what felt like a blink had apparently lasted an hour.That leads to a comparison of two very different relationships with time: Shannon can look at a clock and have no idea what time it is five minutes later, while Janine can usually guess the time within five minutes without checking. From alarms, buffers, and hard departure times to vacuuming until the battery runs out, they explore what time blindness actually feels like—and then wander into the especially strange experience of pandemic time, when individual days could drag while whole weeks seemed to disappear.What We Talk About01:08 — Shannon’s mysteriously missing hour and realizing five minutes before recording that she was running very, very late02:10 — Hating being late while also having time blindness and very little innate sense of time passing03:00 — Janine’s remarkably accurate internal clock, Shannon’s very different experience, and whether time blindness might have an upside04:40 — Alarms, timers, travel time, and remembering that “20 minutes away” doesn’t mean you can leave exactly 20 minutes before an appointment07:10 — Why specific clock times for stopping, heading out, and getting in the car work better for Shannon than thinking in five- or ten-minute increments09:42 — How cleaning the litter box turned into vacuuming until the vacuum ran out of charge10:54 — Shannon remembers the NLP idea of being “in time” versus “through time” as another way of thinking about different experiences of time13:25 — Pandemic time: impossibly long days, surprisingly fast weeks, jigsaw puzzles, and what happens when there isn’t much to distinguish one day from anotherKey TakeawaysPeople can experience the passage of time very differently, from having a strong internal sense of the clock to barely noticing how much time has passed.Getting deeply absorbed in something can feel wonderful and make flow easier, while also making it surprisingly easy to lose track of everything else.Specific clock times can be easier to act on than relative instructions like “in five minutes” or “a little before I need to leave.”Buffers matter because getting somewhere includes all the small transitions around the obvious travel time: stopping what you’re doing, getting out the door, parking, and walking in.When days are very similar, time can feel distorted: individual days may drag while whole weeks seem to disappear.The Bottom LineTime turns out to be a surprisingly subjective thing. Janine can practically tell the time without a clock; Shannon can accidentally vacuum for an hour and a half without noticing. And both remember the pandemic as somehow both very long and strangely compressed. They don’t exactly solve the mystery of time, but they do end up noticing just how differently we can experience it—and ways to deal with the downsides.Want More Like This?Episode 137: Superpowers and Kryptonite — Shannon and Janine look at how the same trait can be both a strength and a challenge, which connects nicely with their wondering here whether getting lost in time can also make it easier to get into a flow state.Episode 185: We’re Back! — After a podcast hiatus, they talk about how weekly routines can act as anchors for the week and even help mark the passage of time—an interesting companion to this episode’s discussion of what happens when days aren’t well differentiated.Episode 241: Building a Buffer — The episode Shannon and Janine remember during this conversation: a discussion of creating more room in schedules, being realistic about how long things take, and discovering that arriving early isn’t necessarily wasted time.Connect With UsWe’d love to know, what’s time like for you?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected]

An opening exchange that once might have earned a do-over stays in. Noise from the other room is ignored, in spite of that one review that complained about the lawnmower in the background. None of it keeps the podcast from doing what it needs to do—which feels like a pretty good illustration of eight years spent practicing good enough.But practice doesn’t always feel free at first. Shannon can leave an imperfectly loaded dishwasher alone now, most of the time, but she may have to close the door and take a deep breath. Janine can live with haphazard loading, though perhaps not Barry rearranging it. Along the way there’s a wooden butter knife refined until it broke, one shiny pan in an otherwise dirty kitchen, and a very useful question: What actually has to be true for this to be good enough?What We Talk About01:31 — Letting an imperfect opening stay in—and living the theme of the podcast03:39 — Why a little background noise and human imperfection can make a podcast feel more real05:42 — What happens when you keep refining something past good enough, including Shannon’s broken wooden butter knife08:13 — The time cost of perfectionism: literary-genius emails, spotless grout, and one very shiny pan in an otherwise dirty kitchen09:14 — Opening the dishwasher can of worms: Janine and Shannon’s very different relationships with “correct” loading11:41 — Shannon’s current good-enough practice: leaving the dishwasher alone when everything fits and will get clean15:51 — Getting clear about what actually matters, from clean dishes and shared work to Shannon’s old standard of avoiding botulism18:07 — How good enough has become more relaxing over time—and why having a minimum acceptable standard can make it easier to know when enough really is enoughKey TakeawaysGood enough becomes much easier to recognize when you know what you actually want from a situation.Practicing good enough doesn’t necessarily feel freeing right away. Sometimes it feels surprisingly uncomfortable before it starts to feel easier.Pursuing perfection can make the result worse: a butter knife breaks, the whole kitchen stays dirty while one pan gleams, or time gets spent improving something that was already doing its job.A minimum standard can provide a useful benchmark when perfectionism makes things feel black-and-white or makes the “right” way seem like the only way.Letting some imperfection show—whether in a podcast, a creative project, or everyday life—can feel more human than polishing every rough edge away.The Bottom LineShannon is still uncomfortable looking at bowls behind the big plates in the dishwasher, but she doesn’t rearrange them anymore. That seems to be where good enough lives in this conversation: not in suddenly ceasing to care, but in noticing what actually matters, letting the rest be imperfect, and practicing until that choice requires a little less effort (and a lot less stress). The dishes get clean. The podcast gets recorded. Nobody got botulism. And life feels more relaxing.Want More Like This?Episode 48: Flexibility — A look at what happens when high standards become rigid, and how practicing flexibility—even when it feels uncomfortable—can make life easier without requiring you to abandon those standards altogether.Episode 105: Enjoying Imperfection — Shannon and Janine explore the possibility of not merely tolerating imperfection but actually enjoying what it adds, from hand lettering and gardens to imperfect solutions around the house.Episode 156: Feeling Good About Good Enough — A conversation about getting more comfortable with stopping at good enough, practicing that skill in everyday life, and discovering how much bandwidth can be saved when perfection isn’t the goal.Connect With UsWe’d love to hear from you. Have you embraced good enough, or are you still struggling with perfectionism?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!

There’s something delightful about a competition where everyone is genuinely cheering for everyone else—and something decidedly less delightful about a reality show where everyone is mean. That contrast gets Janine and Shannon thinking about community, and all the people who can make life feel friendlier without necessarily becoming close friends.It might be neighbors who bring in your packages, people you chat with in the elevator, fellow volunteers, the staff at the post office, or the folks at the Japanese restaurant who wave when you walk by—even when you’re trying to hide a Shake Shack bag from them. Those small connections can add a surprising amount of warmth to everyday life. And apparently, being part of a community does not require remembering everybody’s name, although figuring out how to ask someone how to spell a name on text can get unexpectedly complicated (if you're Shannon!).What We Talk About00:21 — The unusually supportive community on American Ninja Warrior and Great British Bake Off, the pleasure of a competition where people cheer each other on02:10 — How familiar faces and everyday hellos can make a neighborhood feel warm and connected03:44 — Missing casual connections during COVID—and the many ways people found to create community anyway05:32 — Janine the “indoor cat,” who nevertheless jumps at the chance to run errands, see neighbors, and chat in the elevator06:50 — The difference between close friendships and community, where people don’t have to be best-friend material to look out for one another08:59 — Volunteer communities and the value of all those small, recurring connections that don’t have to be deep11:17 — The downside of a transitory community, the upside of new people arriving, and thoughts about social connection as we age13:13 — Shannon’s anxiety about entering an established neighborhood when she was struggling with memory—and the surprisingly simple solution of asking people to remind you of their namesKey TakeawaysCommunity can include a lot more people than the ones we’d call friends: neighbors, restaurant staff, fellow volunteers, competitors, and people we simply see regularly.A quick hello or wave can matter. Janine keeps noticing how those tiny interactions “fill her cup” a little more.Some of the nicest community connections are quietly practical—bringing in a package, helping move a giant TV, watering a garden, or sharing travel suggestions.Communities change. People move away, new people arrive, and the prospect of running into someone can be meaningful even if you never deliberately make plans with them.Forgetting someone’s name doesn’t have to derail a connection. Asking turns out to be much simpler than the elaborate workarounds Shannon can construct in her head.The Bottom LineNeither Shannon nor Janine is talking about filling the calendar with more socializing. What they keep coming back to is the pleasure of being known just a little bit: a wave through a restaurant window, a chat in the elevator, a neighbor who will grab your package, someone who’s glad to see you. Community doesn’t have to be perfect—or especially deep—to make life feel warmer. And if occasionally you have to say, “Remind me of your name,” that seems like a pretty reasonable price of admission.Want More Like This?Episode 101: Cultivating Friendships — Shannon and Janine talk about making and maintaining friendships, including the small, easy ways to reach out and stay connected without letting perfectionism make it harder than it needs to be.Episode 135: Keeping Challenges Easy — A conversation about the challenges Shannon and Janine enjoy taking on, including how much easier and more enjoyable things can become when there’s a community doing them alongside you.Episode 222: Charitable Actions — Shannon and Janine explore volunteering, including the importance of finding a volunteer opportunity that feels right and the benefits that can come from being part of a community of fellow volunteers.Connect With UsWe’d love to hear from you. What kind of community do you have, and how do you maintain those connections?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!

There’s something very satisfying about a good checklist—right up until you forget to use it and arrive on an overnight trip without your chargers.Shannon is deep in pre-travel mode, which means checklists are everywhere, and Janine is an enthusiastic fellow traveler. Soon they’re remembering the podcast checklists they once relied on, comparing Apple Notes and Bullet Journals, talking about pilots who run through the same steps every single flight, and finding entirely new uses for plastic sleeves and dry-erase markers.Of course, even a great checklist only works if you remember it exists. And in a nicely timed demonstration of why external memory can be useful, Shannon ends the episode by confidently saying the podcast phone number wrong.What We Talk About02:33 — Travel checklists, the importance of chargers, and what happened when Shannon skipped her list on an overnight trip04:42 — Keeping checklists current and Mike’s method of refining his travel list after each trip06:19 — Remembering the things that can’t be packed until morning, plus the growing pre-trip mega checklist08:49 — Checklists beyond travel: Janine’s new bookkeeping system and the podcast’s shared mini operating manual11:31 — Apple Notes, Bullet Journals, and the deep satisfaction of watching checked-off items move to the bottom12:15 — The Checklist Manifesto, pilots who never skip the routine, “clear prop,” and Barry’s occasionally irritating checklist advice14:13 — Fighter pilots, astronauts, The Apollo Murders, and what can happen when every complicated process has its steps written down18:32 — Todoist routines, laundry that isn’t done until it’s put away, resurrecting forgotten checklists, and reusable list hacks that keep things freshKey TakeawaysA checklist can take over when memory gets unreliable under pressure—or when a task happens too infrequently to become automatic.Useful checklists aren’t necessarily finished products. Mike keeps revising his travel list based on what he used, didn’t use, and wished he’d brought.Repeated checklists can become a kind of operating manual: eventually the process may feel automatic, but the written steps are still there if someone else has to take over.There’s a catch to having a great checklist: you still have to remember it exists. Writing it down at least means it can be resurrected when you need it again.Sometimes a little novelty or visibility—a different app, a reusable card, a plastic sleeve—is enough to make an old checklist interesting again.The Bottom LineChecklists seem to earn their keep most when memory is least dependable: before a trip, during an infrequent bookkeeping task, or when somebody else has to take over a process. They still need updating, they still have to be remembered, and sometimes adding a little novelty is what keeps them alive. And after all that talk about brain muscle memory, Shannon closes by getting the phone number wrong—apparently the right thing does not always come out at the right time.Want More Like This?Episode 22: Creating Helpful HabitsAutomating mundane tasks, finding ways to remember new habits, and linking actions together into routines—the habit-building side of what checklists are doing here.Episode 121: Productive PreparationTravel preparation gets the good-enough treatment, with Janine using Trello to plan packing, Shannon using Post-it notes, and both trying to prepare without letting perfectionism take over.Episode 196: Building an Anti-Perfectionist ToolkitA particularly fitting companion to this discussion: useful tools are easy to forget. Shannon and Janine talk about collecting them in one place, revisiting them, tweaking what stops working, and writing things down so they’re there when you need them.Connect With UsLeave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!

Janine’s new car seems not to have been a mistake—even if maintenance may someday require a trip to Chicago. That gets us talking about the very different feeling when you do realize you’ve messed something up: the sinking stomach, the panic, the self-recrimination, and sometimes a strong desire to pretend it never happened.Shannon’s missed physical therapy appointment turns into a bigger question about why mistakes—and even simply not doing something when you intended to—can make it so much harder to take the next step. Soon there are tasks that keep moving from one week’s list to the next, Janine’s months-long avoidance of creating a procedure that ultimately took virtually no time, and a “seven-layer dip of dread” built around a job Shannon estimates might take fifteen minutes.Somewhere in there, we start teasing apart what makes moving forward feel so hard and what might make it easier. And then Janine comes up with a much more appealing name for those lingering tasks: Opportunities for Achievement. Somehow, that makes all the difference.What We Talk About02:48 — That sinking, panicky feeling that can come with realizing you’ve made a mistake03:05 — Shannon misses a physical therapy appointment—and briefly considers pretending it never happened05:36 — Why mistakes can make it so much harder to go back, face the person involved, or keep moving06:35 — The utility bills Shannon keeps carrying forward on her task list as the task gets bigger and more unpleasant in her mind08:27 — Janine’s months-long avoidance of creating a procedure that ultimately took virtually no time10:18 — Looking at what a dreaded task actually requires—and Shannon’s “seven-layer dip of dread” around a fifteen-minute job12:23 — Shifting the focus from personal discomfort to making life easier for someone else14:27 — Rewards, self-recrimination, background stress, and the birth of an “Opportunities for Achievement” listKey TakeawaysMistakes can bring embarrassment, panic, and self-recrimination that make the next step harder than the original problem.Repeatedly moving the same task from week to week can make it grow much larger and more unpleasant in your mind than it is in reality.Even a task that has already been simplified with templates, instructions, and systems can still accumulate plenty of dread.Thinking about how getting something done helps another person can shift the focus away from your own discomfort.Changing the language—like going from a list of things you haven’t done to “Opportunities for Achievement”—can change how the whole thing feels.The Bottom LineFor most of us, a mistake can bring embarrassment, self-recrimination, and that sinking feeling that makes us want to avoid the whole situation. And when the “mistake” is simply not doing something when we meant to, every day of avoidance can add another layer of dread. Looking at what the task actually requires, remembering who benefits when it gets done, and changing the language around it all seem to make moving forward feel easier. By the end, “Opportunities for Achievement” sounds a lot better than a list of things we’ve failed to do.Want More Like This?Episode 228: Managing MistakesJanine shares a big mistake she made and how she dealt with it, including apologizing, moving on, and trying not to spend more time and energy on the mistake than necessary. It’s a particularly close companion to this episode’s questions about what happens after you realize you’ve messed up.Episode 165: The Power of LanguageWords matter—and sometimes a small change in language changes the way something feels. Shannon and Janine talk about replacing “need to” with “choose to” and other subtle reframes, making this a natural match for the newly christened “Opportunities for Achievement” list.Episode 104: Try CompassionShannon and Janine explore how hard we can be on ourselves and the idea that we somehow need that harshness to keep from repeating mistakes. It connects especially well with Shannon’s realization that part of her seven-layer dip of dread is feeling she doesn’t even deserve a reward for finally getting the task done.Connect With UsWe’d love to hear from you. What’s it like for you when you make a mistake? Are you able to keep going? Do you need an Opportunities for Achievement list?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!

Is stopping because something is good enough the same thing as being lazy? Janine’s first answer to herself was basically yes—until she caught the name-calling. What if the additional time she was considering just wasn’t worth the extra effort?That opens up all kinds of questions: Why does “busy” sound like a badge of honor? Why can doing nothing all weekend feel like something you have to defend? And if time is finite in the same way money is, what are we choosing not to spend it on when we keep polishing something that doesn’t matter that much?Energy complicates the math even more. Some days you have more of it than others, and the same stopping point can feel completely different depending on what you say to yourself: “Ugh, I’m lazy” or “This is great. I can stop here.” Good enough starts to look less like taking the easy way out and more like something worth aspiring to.What We Talk About01:01 — When “I’m too lazy” might really mean “this isn’t worth more effort”03:11 — Celebrating stopping instead of criticizing yourself for it04:11 — Busy as a badge of honor and productivity as a measure of worth05:11 — The glorious appeal—and social weirdness—of doing nothing all weekend07:06 — Good enough as something aspirational, not lazy08:45 — Deciding consciously whether something really needs more10:33 — Spending time like money—and adding finite energy to the equation14:00 — Catching the name-calling and letting energy help determine what’s reasonableKey TakeawaysSometimes stopping at good enough simply means recognizing that more effort wouldn’t add enough value to be worth it.Consciously noticing that you chose to stop can turn good enough from a shrug into something that actually feels good.Time and energy are finite. Spending more of either on one thing means having less available for something else.Energy isn’t constant, so what feels reasonable to expect of yourself can change from one day to another.The stopping point can be exactly the same while the emotional experience is completely different: “I’m lazy” feels nothing like “This is great. I can stop here.”The Bottom LineThere may be nothing lazy about deciding something has had enough of your time. The useful question is whether more effort would actually matter, given what else deserves your time and the energy you have available. And maybe the particularly good part is noticing the choice when you make it: same stopping point, but “good job, Janine” feels very different from “lazy ass.”Want More Like This?Episode 7: What Is Good Enough? — An early look at how personal our standards of good enough are, and how the importance of what you’re doing can help determine where to stop.Episode 38: Personal Capacity — Shannon and Janine talk about the problem with expecting yourself to operate at 100 percent capacity and the value of making realistic choices about what you can actually do.Episode 252: Taking the Win — A discussion of noticing and giving yourself credit for what you’ve done instead of immediately focusing on what could still be better.Connect With UsWe’d love to hear from you. Do you find it easy to know when to stop? Have you experienced the freedom of good enough?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YourTube!

There’s a small problem with taking a carefully planned podcast break: apparently you have to do a whole lot of work first!You were on break from GTGE in August. We were not. We recorded and edited and scheduled episodes so Shannon can actually disappear for more than three weeks in September—without a computer—while Janine gets to enjoy a break from podcasting in the comfort of her apartment.From there, we wander through northern lights, unexpectedly expensive rustic accommodations, strategically scheduling the relaxing part of a vacation at the end, and the very sensible idea of leaving a bit of time to catch up before returning to real life.Which leads to the less relaxing question: What happens when you step away from something long enough that you worry you’ll forget how to do it?What We Talk About01:57 Why planned breaks were part of bringing the podcast back02:43 Staying off the hamster wheel—and keeping the podcast fun03:30 What an actual vacation looks like when you’re self-employed04:46 Doing a lot of work now so you can really stop working later05:20 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, northern lights, and some pricey “roughing it”07:49 Ending a trip somewhere relaxing so you don't need a vacation after your vacation13:26 The slightly unnerving side of stepping away for a while14:42 Writing things down so Future You doesn’t have to remember everythingKey TakeawaysApparently, a real break sometimes requires a very busy stretch beforehand.“We only do it if it’s fun” is still a useful measure for the podcast—and one reason taking breaks matters.There’s something appealing about putting a buffer around a break: time to settle into being away, and time to settle back in when you return.Worrying about what might happen while you’re gone doesn’t necessarily mean the break is a bad idea. Shannon can worry that she’ll forget how to podcast and still go to Scandinavia without a computer.Writing down a process is useful even before you need the instructions. And checking the instructions while you’re actually doing the thing may be the best way to discover whether they bear any resemblance to reality.The Bottom LineTaking a break sounds restful. Preparing to take one? Not necessarily.But Shannon and Janine keep coming back to the same thing that has guided the podcast since 2018: if it stops being fun, something needs to change. This time, the change is a planned break, some real time away, and a little room around the edges for reentry. There are still nerves about stepping away, but there are also notes, backup plans, and some real-time documentation.And if Shannon almost forgot the tagline before the break even started, perhaps updating those podcast instructions really is a good idea!Want More Like This?Episode 100: Our 100th Episode!Shannon and Janine celebrate making it to 100 episodes and revisit the agreement they made at the beginning: they’d keep doing the podcast as long as it was fun. Six years later, that principle is still doing some useful work.Episode 150: Creating Helpful Work BoundariesWork has a way of sneaking into the rest of life, especially when you work for yourself. Shannon and Janine talk about ways to make work and non-work time more distinct—including what Shannon learned from a beach trip that wasn’t quite as vacation-like as it could have been.Episode 183: Taking a BreakThe earlier version of this very experiment: Shannon and Janine announce a five-week podcast hiatus and talk about what they might gain by actually stopping instead of filling the gap with more work.Connect With UsWe would love to hear from you, our listeners. Do you remember to take a break? What is it like for you when you do?Leave us a voicemail: 413-424-GTGE (4843)Comment on social media: @gettingtogoodenough on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeEmail: [email protected] the conversation on YouTube!Meta DescriptionShannon and Janine talk about taking a real break, planning time off, easing back in afterward, and the nerves that can come with stepping away.

We’re taking a summer break!When we brought Getting to Good Enough back last year, we decided that building in some time off would help keep the podcast fun and fresh. So we’re taking August off and enjoying that back-to-school feeling of excitement about summer vacation.We’ll be back with a brand-new episode—and a brand-new season—on September 10. See you then!