Getting to Good Enough

It is so easy to shop online. And that's not a problem, unless it is a problem. This week, Janine and Shannon discuss some ideas for pressing pause on the urge to shop.

Discussion topics include:

• The online shopping Shannon's been doing, thanks to targeted Instagram ads, and how she's stepping it back

• Creating a pause to stop online impulse shopping

• How Janine has bought very little in recent months, thanks to the 100-day dress challenge she's participating in

• Easing the urge to shop by shopping in your closet (or elsewhere in your house)

• The temptation of single-use gadgets

• Looking at the deeper need you're trying to satisfy with purchases

• Trying on the feeling you're trying to get by shopping without actually making the purchase

• The secret weapon that stops us from needless shopping: You Need a Budget (YNAB)

• How YNAB can help you save for something valuable and stop you from frittering away money on small purchases

• Creating space to think clearly about what you're seeking, the problem you're trying to solve, what you're trying to feel and if there's some other way for you to accomplish it

• Shannon's one-in-one-out policy with regard to her collection of graphic tees

• How it's harder to get rid of something you already have than it is to choose to get something new

• An important thing to remember: There's nothing wrong with shopping if shopping isn't a problem

Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links

Making progress, any progress, on a project is so much better than being paralyzed by perfectionism. This week Shannon and Janine discuss the many ways that it can benefit you to let go of perfectionism and make imperfect progress on those things you want to get done.

Discussion topics include:

• How seeking perfectionism can be paralyzing

• How Janine is experiencing this right now as she struggles to make progress on a slide deck for a presentation she is going to make

• The benefit of creating an imperfect first draft so you can make it better (if you want)

• Shannon's idea that Janine might create a powerpoint and give herself permission not to use it

• How it's impossible to bring a creative project into the world in perfect form

• Different kinds of progress, like getting started or coming up with a draft to improve upon

• How several iterations are sometimes necessary in decluttering and organizing

• How perfectionism can make it really hard to finish a project

• Rewarding progress rather than waiting to reward until a project is completed

• The way that rewards can help you keep going

• How progress can be rewarding in and of itself

• Taking a "progress not perfection" approach to doing taxes

• Shannon's happy surprise while doing her mother's taxes

• A diversion into a discussion of shoveling snow

A good night's sleep is very important, but, unfortunately, it can be elusive. This week, Janine and Shannon discuss our efforts to get a good night's sleep (including some solutions that have actually worked for us) and the benefit of letting go of perfectionism when trying to get a good night's sleep.

Discussion topics include:

• Spring flowers in Portland that are already blooming

• The early birthday present that has helped Shannon sleep better: a weighted blanket

• Temperature: The most elusive and important factor in our good night's sleep

• Janine's more expensive sleep solution, a fancy new Sleep Number Smart Bed replace their 21-year-old mattress

• The app Shannon uses to measure her sleep, AutoSleep (it's attached to her Apple Watch)

• How Shannon sleeps much better since changing her sleep goal from 8 hours to 7 hours

• The value of creating an interim goal and then increasing it (for sleep or other things!)

• How a new bed came make a big difference (no more waking up in pain!)

• Other factors affecting sleep: light and noise

• Shannon's glamorous bedtime appearance

• The smaller solutions you can try to improve your sleep on a budget

• How a Kindle Paperwhite can contribute to good sleep

• Janine's favorite meditation apps that she goes to sleep to

• Shannon's "fake naps"

• Progress over perfection when it comes to sleep

See the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for copious links to the products mentioned in this episode

We all need a little ease, right? (In fact, "ease" is Janine's word of the year for 2021!) This week, Shannon and Janine discuss how daily effort makes creating ease all the easier.

Discussion topics include:

• Janine's revelation during her daily yoga practice about how doing it daily has made it so much easier

• How daily action makes so many things easier, like keeping your desk clear

• How Janine's financial life has been made infinitely better through daily interaction with You Need a Budget (YNAB)

• The miracle of Janine being caught up in Quickbooks for her business, thanks to her linking doing data entry in Quickbooks with YNAB

• How perfectionism can get in the way of creating a daily practice (and how rewarding it is to work through the perfectionism)

• Another daily practice that's making Janine's life easier: The 100-day dress challenge (she's on Day 63 of wearing the same dress every day)

• The physical benefits that Shannon has experienced from 30 straight days of yoga + the benefits of having a yoga buddy at home

• Janine's concern about being overwhelmed by her many daily tasks

• How Shannon has been able to learn Portuguese just by doing Duolingo three minutes a day

• Some advice on dealing with an email backlog on a daily basis

• A simple shift that has allowed Janine to drink more water and take her supplements every morning without fail

Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for loads of links!

Two years ago (almost to the day), we published an episode on hobbies, which has been one of our favorites. Hobbies are so important to self-care and so prone to falling prey to perfectionism that wanted to present it again.

Perfectionism can get in the way of starting or enjoying hobbies. This week Shannon and Janine talk about  their hobbies (and attempted hobbies) and share strategies for getting past perfectionism so you can enjoy your hobbies.

Discussion topics include:

• How every hobby Shannon’s had has been marred by perfectionism

• How perfectionism can get in the way of starting and enjoying a new hobby

• The fact that new hobbies usually have to be bad before they can get good

• How Shannon inspired Janine to start knitting fourteen years ago (spoiler alert: only one of them is still knitting)

• Process versus results in doing hobbies (like knitting)

• Janine’s 12-year adventure with Barbara Walker’s Learn-to-Knit Afghan

• Why starting a hobby by shopping can be a mistake

• How Shannon is managing to stick with her latest hobby: Learning Portuguese

• How guided lessons can help provide structure to make learning a new hobby fun

• Figuring what counts as engaging in your hobby when you’re starting out

• How frequent practice can make learning a new hobby easier

Be sure to check out the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for great links and photos!

We've all had a whole lot to cope with in the past year. Shannon's year was made even more difficult at the end of 2020 when her mother passed away. In this episode, Shannon and Janine discuss how to cope imperfectly during difficult times (big hint: grant yourself some kindness and grace).

Discussion topics include:

• The passing of Shannon's mother several weeks ago

• The difficulty of going through the mourning process during a pandemic and all the other recent tragic events

• How we've kept the podcast going imperfectly during this difficult time by repeating episodes

• Finding gentle ways to copy without worrying about living up to a preconceived standard

• How Shannon didn't anticipate what would be important to her after her mother's death

• Shannon's "No Regrets" mantra and how it worked out well for her

• Coping imperfectly by giving yourself a lot of grace

• Remembering that we might not feel like we think we're going to feel when something bad happens

• The importance of making pre-death decisions and arrangements

• The magic question to ask yourself when coping: "What do I need in this moment?"

• Shannon's imperfect way of coping with her tendency not to eat when she's experiencing stress

• Using wine to cope (or not)

• Allowing yourself to have fun and laugh even during tough times

• The bottom line: No matter what you're coping with, allow yourself to navigate in the moment and set yourself up for what you think you might need

Way back in Episode 5, we published an episode entitled Good Enough In Practice, in which we discussed how we walked the walk and embraced good enough when we set up this podcast. We think it's full of useful information, so we've decided to publish it again!

Janine and Shannon truly embraced the concept of “good enough” when creating this podcast. In this episode we talk about how we went from idea to launch in less than two months (with five episodes recorded!). It’s been a great lesson for us on the value of letting go of perfectionism.

We let it be easy when it came to:

• Choosing the podcasting app we use to produce the podcast (we’re using Cast — it’s a super simple way to get started!)

• Selecting topics

• Selecting the name of the podcast

• Deciding what had to be in place before we could launch

• Creating a logo for the podcast

• Rehearsing our conversations (or not)

Listen to the inside scoop on how putting “good enough” into practice allowed us to make creating a podcast fun and easy!

We all have superpowers and kryptonite. (You might call them strengths and weaknesses.) In this episode, Shannon and Janine discuss how the things that you struggle with can also be your superpowers and how your superpowers gone too far can turn into your kryptonite.

Discussion topics include:

• How personality traits can be on a continuum

• Case in point: perfectionism can be paralyzing but it can also help you do things well

• Similarly, a good-enough mentality may make life easier but it may also promote mistakes

• Looking at things that are  challenges for you to see what strengths you can find in them.

• Ask yourself: What do you have to be good at to have the challenges you're having? And how can you apply that information to help you get past the challenge?

• The inspiration for this episode: The CliftonStrengths Assessment

• Shannon's top strengths from the CliftonStrengths Assessment and how they reveal her superpowers and kryptonite (spoiler alert: perfectionism is part of it)

• The good news: How you are isn't good or bad; you may just be able to shift the needle a little bit on the continuum

• A great exercise: Take a look at the things you struggle with and consider what you need to be good at to do those things. Then use those superpowers in other areas of your life so they feel beneficial.

• Recognizing that the things you are good can have negative effects if taken too far

• A side note: We're resurrecting Declutter Happy Hour in February! Stay tuned.

Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links

This week, we’re re-running Episode 68 from September 2019. The premise of our podcast is that we want to help you let go of perfectionism. We think this episode about why that's important bears repeating.

Why is that we're so passionate about helping you let go of perfectionism? In this episode Shannon and Janine talk about how perfectionism can get in the way of happiness--and how striving for good enough can lead to a happier existence.

Discussion topics include:

• Janine’s impromptu visit to Chicago to see the musical Hamilton

• Our working definition of perfectionism: Spending more time on something than it deserves

• The problem with the effort of it takes to go from good enough to perfect

• Shannon’s perfect week as an athlete (and how it’s not something to strive for)

• The problem with perfectionism: The emotions that go along with not being able to achieve what you perceive as perfection

• A couple of readings from a great article called The Case for Being Good Enough (link below)

• How people who tend toward perfectionism let “failures” affect their self worth

• Shannon’s 15-year journey (actually longer!) away from perfectionism

• How now is the perfect time for Shannon to be taking a cartooning class (along with some of the lessons about perfectionism the class is teaching her)

• The evolution in just a week of Shannon’s cartoons from sketchy circles to animals

• How the least perfect of Shannon's cartoon teddy bears is actually the most appealing one

• How inevitable imperfections can enliven things (like cartoons and hand-lettered postcards)

• Janine’s five-piece-at-a-time jigsaw-puzzle strategy

For links and photos, see the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com.

Both Shannon and Janine love taking on time-limited challenges they find on the internet. In this episode, they discuss some of their favorites  while offering some advice on keeping these challenges easy.

Discussion topics include:

• One of our favorite challenges: Yoga with Adriene's annual 30 day yoga journey

• Janine's 30 x 30 challenge on her genealogy blog

• National Novel Writing Month (write a novel in 30 days)

• Keeping the stakes low, but interesting enough that you care to do it

• Selecting challenges you want, not those you think you should do

• Janine's progress on her personal 50-books-a-year challenge

• How these challenges are a great way to get started on a new habit

• Avoiding perfectionism: How even a little progress is beneficial with these challenges

• Creating a range of goals within a challenge

• Keeping it easy by figuring out what counts (and being really kind in your criteria)

• The hiatus Shannon has taken in cartooning and how doing a challenge might help her resume it (if she decides she wants to)

• The key to success with a challenge: Keep it doable, be kind to yourself, have fun!

• The power of community

• The 100-day dress challenge Janine recently took on