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August 23, 2006

Enough

Last night was date night - the sitter watches our son one night every other week while my wife and I go out and spend some time with each other free of the distractions of parenting. After dinner (great Indian food at Kanishka), we went to a nearby shopping center - she visited a crafting store while I sat and watched the water fountain.

I experienced a bit of a zen moment as I watched three jets of water, each rising to a different height. Some might have seen it as a metaphor for striving to always reach higher - I saw three fountains of water that had each risen to the height which was theirs. They accomplished what they needed to accomplish, their purpose was served by the height they’d reached.

Had the lower one risen higher, it would no longer have been so inviting to the toddlers that came to touch it. Had the high one been even higher, it would have soaked passers-by with every breeze.

“Find your place,” the scene said to me. “Once you’ve found it, you don’t have to always strive for more, more, more. Do what you’ve found. Do it well.”

I let that just wash over me for a while. Our culture - American culture in particular - is so focused on always reaching some next level: grow your sales, grow your market, upgrade your house, your income, your car, your computer, your career. Ofttimes, someone who has declared “I am accomplished, this is enough” is viewed as a drop-out from society. In a society that values the Upgrade so much, that might be true.

When Jenni came to find me, she gave me an odd look.

“What?” I asked. “You have a very smug smile on your face,” she told me.

Is it coincidence that “smug” is so often followed by “and self-satisfied”?

Last night’s thoughts were only reinforced this morning when I read Seth Godin’s remark that perhaps “good enough” might be the next big idea.

Maybe it already is.

Posted by jim at August 23, 2006 10:28 AM