When I was a kid, the Sears Roebuck catalogue was a magical collection of merchandise. I loved paging through, admiring the contents in images and text.
Often, there were three versions of products, Good, Better and Best. I used to wonder why anyone would not buy the Best one, why they would settle for Better or even Good.
Now, forty five years later, I know why.
Sometimes, Good and Better are okay.
Don’t get me wrong, I always strive to do my Best, but I have found there are time when you can’t do something the way you would like to.
This pertains most frequently to housework and chores. As you are working on one chore, you notice there is something else that really should be attended to, but there isn’t time. That’s when Good and Better come in. If you don’t have time to clean the whole bathroom, but you can make it Better by cleaning the shower, do it. Don’t worry about anything else, just clean the shower. When you walk away, things will be Better.
Choose what needs to be made Better has become really easy. It is the thing you saw that upset you. That brought the words ‘I really need to …’ into your head. If you take just a moment and think how you can make it Better, you’ll usually find a way.
On those days when you can’t make anything Better, think about why. There is usually a really good reason you can’t make it Better. Maybe you don’t have the time because you are working. Maybe the project is too big to tackle at that moment. Maybe you don’t know how to solve the problem or the whole issue has an emotional element that makes it hard to deal with.
Making it Better can also be choosing a strategy. Focus on nothing other than what needs to be done to make it Better. Sometimes that can be the first simple step of a task, or it is facing that it will be difficult but you think it’s worth doing.
Some days, doing nothing makes it Better. Resting lets you recover so tomorrow will be Better.
On that note, I’m going to go tidy up the dining room …