Evan Carmichael argues that good is the enemy of greatness. He threw away months of work because it wasn't good enough, and says true impact requires abandoning safe paths and constantly pushing boundaries instead of settling for mediocrity.
Greatness. "Good is the enemy of great." —Jim Collins. Yesterday I threw out months of work. Work that my team and I spent countless hours on, agonizing over. We created something that nobody in my industry had done before. We were leading a revolution. And before what we created really had a chance to make an impact, I'm throwing it away. Because I came up with something better. Something mind-blowing. Something great. You have to do great work. If you want to make money, change people's lives, have a real impact, what you do has to be great. And that often means throwing away really good ideas to chase greatness. Even if you've invested lots of money, time, and resources into them. If it's not great, it shouldn't be worth your time. You know when something is great. Don't settle. Great is scary. Doing great work is scary. It requires a ton of effort. It takes you to places you've never been before. It means abandoning the safe, trusted path you've known. Good is the enemy of great. If something is bad, you'll change it. The challenge is when something is good enough. You know it's not great. But it's good enough for people. And so you stop making changes. You stop improving. Good is worse than bad because it stops you from achieving great. Being great requires change. You don't just achieve greatness and then stop. The Sony Walkman might have been great when it came out, but it's not great anymore. You have to keep pushing boundaries to stay great. Challenge yourself to come up with the next great push forward. This applies to everything. This isn't just a business idea. It's for every aspect of your life. Do you want a great life or a good one? Do you want to be in a great relationship or a good one? Stop settling for less. When you settle for less than great, you get used to settling. You settle for a mediocre business. You settle for a mediocre life. You stop chasing your dreams. Stop settling and make your business and your life great. Believe.
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