Ever good enough?

There's a major reorganization going on in our IT area at work. Lots of management positions will be opening up. A friend of mine keeps coming by my office. He says, "You gotta apply! You'd be great" And I laugh. "Why do you laugh?" he says. "I'm serious! You be the branch head, and I'll work for you."

Why do I laugh? Because I'm uncomfortable. I say I'm not ready yet. I say I still have to learn how to budget, how to schedule. I say I don't know if I'm ready to be a supervisor. But when it comes down to it, what I'm saying is that I don't think I'm good enough. Is this true? Probably not. I read a great article that said a perfectionist defines good enough as "(What I did) + 1 ." Would I ever feel I'm ready? Would there always be something else to improve?

I was in a great leadership program last year. Scott Coady, one of the facilitators and a fabulous coach, asked me, "Where did you get the idea you had to be perfect?" I don't? You mean I can forgive myself for not being perfect? Whoah.

Striving for perfection means you're never satisfied, never happy. Something's always lacking. A search for perfectionism is a search for fault. Sounds like just the person you'd want at a party! Who wants to be around that?

The alternative is appreciation. The hard part: how do you recognize the areas for improvement, while focusing on your strengths, and those of others? How do you appreciate what you have, and see opportunity instead of flaws?