Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Good Enough is Good Enough

There is a common misconception that a perfectionist is someone that engages in the singleminded pursuit of what is perfect. Any perfectionist that needs to make a living knows this not to be true. After all, nothing's really perfect forever.

A sculpture made to its quintessential state of form and finish, once displayed, is commonly mishandled and fingered. A wedding cake that is baked and decorated to a blissful refine sits three or more hours past its prime while waiting to be eaten. "I AM A PERFECTIONIST!" wails the genius artist in the movie in the maddening moment of creation. But in the end, everyone's got to say, "Well, it's good enough." The world does not wait for those who just wail.

Recently I was visited by a talented student filled with angst over his future creative life. He said something to the effect, "Surely you know the moment -- when you spend a year drenched in a single idea, or spend an entire month working towards that singular goal." I answered, "No. Actually I don't." My method is simple. I get in, and I know when to get out. And then I get into something else.

I subscribe to the modified Muhammad Ali principle -- "Float like a jellyfish, sting like a bee." Hmmmm, actually since a jellyfish stings too I guess this means all you really have to do in life is to float like a jellyfish. Yep. That's good enough for now.