Good Enough. For Now.
Avthar's Weekly Wisdom #60 (08/29/2021)
Welcome to edition #60 of Avthar's Weekly Wisdom!
🔥 I’m Avthar, a South African technology entrepreneur and learning enthusiast based in New York City. This digital letter is where I share practical wisdom about self-mastery, entrepreneurship, health and happiness, all to help you live better.
My guarantee is that you’ll discover one thing that will help you change your life in every edition. As a reminder, you can find all previous editions of this newsletter in the archive. And you can find more of my writings at avthar.com.
Good Enough. For now.
It means that where we are - while not perfect or the state we want to be - holds lessons, opportunities and rewards that are worthy of our time, attention and presence.
“Good enough” means that we don’t live in a state of waiting - waiting for the time where we have more (more money, time, freedom, ___) and where we no longer face the difficulties and constraints of today. It frees us to live fully now and embrace what’s in front of us, rather than living passively as a victim of our circumstances.
“For now” implies hope. Hope that the future will be better, hope that our sacrifices will pay off, hope that the investments we make today will reap returns tomorrow. It’s not good enough forever, but good enough for now.
“Good enough for now” acknowledges the difficulties and struggles of today, but breaks us out of the prison of our own expectations, unhappiness and comparisons. It frees us to live with joy, purpose and contentment today, stopping to smell the roses while working toward that better future.
(Aside: I first learned about the “good enough for now” mindset while reading “Designing Your Work Life” by Stanford Design School professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I highly recommend the book if you’re looking to supercharge your career.)
Tweet of the week
I decided to live tweet my 36 hour fast this past week. This thread covers my motivation for fasting, what I did during the 36+ hours, the supplements I took and what I ate to break my fast:
How it started:
How it ended:
I also included some post-fast reflections on the experience and some recommendations for people to follow to learn more about fasting.
Video of the week
Self Worth Theory: The Key to Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination by Nic Voge at TEDxPrincetonU
This past week I gave a workshop on time-management and prioritization to 50+ high schoolers from all over the world at United World College Costa Rica (the international high school I graduated from).
Procrastination was a key issue that came up. Struggling with procrastination doesn’t end when you graduate high school or college, but is something that we have to overcome throughout our career and life in general. This talk contains some of the most useful information on procrastination and how to beat it.
If you’d like to hear more from Nic Voge, you can listen to my conversation with him about helping Princeton students learn, procrastination, and self-worth on my podcast: Youtube or Audio.
🙏 Thank you again for reading and for your support! I wish you a week of happiness, success and peace! I hope you’re able to apply the “good enough for now” mindset to some aspect of your life where you feel stuck.
With gratitude,
Avthar