Skill of the Week: Strive to be Good Enough. Donald Winnicott was a British pediatrician and psychoanalyst. He came up with the concept of the good enough mother. This is the mother who - although she doesnt meet her babys needs 100% of the time - is good enough to keep the infant fed, dry, warm, and safe. One of my colleagues says that her goal for the first year of her sons life was to keep him alive - just that; it was good enough. Instead of knocking yourself out trying to be perfect (the perfect employee, partner, child, parent, with the perfect body, speaking perfectly low and kindly all the time, with a perfect driving record) how about making your goal to be good enough? At the very least, try allowing yourself to be good enough in one area of your life. The psychologist David Burns says that his goal is to be average; while most of his colleagues see him as above that mark, he knows that he only creates anxiety and depression in himself when he stresses and strains trying to be superlative. In the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is the line, mediocrity is not a mortal sin. Strive to be good enough - only good enough. Its plenty.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:00:01 +0000
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