Getting to Good Enough

Shannon thought she had two hours before recording. Then freshly out of the shower, she realized she had just five minutes before they were supposed to start. Somewhere in there, what felt like a blink had apparently lasted an hour. That leads to a comparison of two very different relationships with time: Shannon can look at a clock and have no idea what time it is five minutes later, while Janine...

An opening exchange that once might have earned a do-over stays in. Noise from the other room is ignored, in spite of that one review that complained about the lawnmower in the background. None of it keeps the podcast from doing what it needs to do—which feels like a pretty good illustration of eight years spent practicing good enough. But practice doesn’t always feel free at first. Shannon can le...

There’s something delightful about a competition where everyone is genuinely cheering for everyone else—and something decidedly less delightful about a reality show where everyone is mean. That contrast gets Janine and Shannon thinking about community, and all the people who can make life feel friendlier without necessarily becoming close friends. It might be neighbors who bring in your packages,...

There’s something very satisfying about a good checklist—right up until you forget to use it and arrive on an overnight trip without your chargers. Shannon is deep in pre-travel mode, which means checklists are everywhere, and Janine is an enthusiastic fellow traveler. Soon they’re remembering the podcast checklists they once relied on, comparing Apple Notes and Bullet Journals, talking about pilo...

Janine’s new car seems not to have been a mistake—even if maintenance may someday require a trip to Chicago. That gets us talking about the very different feeling when you do realize you’ve messed something up: the sinking stomach, the panic, the self-recrimination, and sometimes a strong desire to pretend it never happened. Shannon’s missed physical therapy appointment turns into a bigger questio...

Is stopping because something is good enough the same thing as being lazy? Janine’s first answer to herself was basically yes—until she caught the name-calling. What if the additional time she was considering just wasn’t worth the extra effort? That opens up all kinds of questions: Why does “busy” sound like a badge of honor? Why can doing nothing all weekend feel like something you have to defend...

There’s a small problem with taking a carefully planned podcast break: apparently you have to do a whole lot of work first! You were on break from GTGE in August. We were not. We recorded and edited and scheduled episodes so Shannon can actually disappear for more than three weeks in September—without a computer—while Janine gets to enjoy a break from podcasting in the comfort of her apartment. Fr...

We’re taking a summer break! When we brought Getting to Good Enough back last year, we decided that building in some time off would help keep the podcast fun and fresh. So we’re taking August off and enjoying that back-to-school feeling of excitement about summer vacation. We’ll be back with a brand-new episode—and a brand-new season—on September 10. See you then!

Disappointment comes in all sizes. Sometimes it’s losing your AirPods somewhere in your apartment and having to fall back on an old wired pair. Sometimes it’s discovering that the IKEA cabinet system you carefully planned cannot coexist with geometry, physics, and an 82-inch basement ceiling—and suddenly not wanting to organize the basement at all. Then there are the disappointments that change mu...

You know the one. That awkward goodbye. The thing you said that came out wrong. The gift giving you wish had unfolded just a little differently. Everyone else has probably forgotten it...but somehow your brain keeps bringing it back. A Fourth of July host gift wrapped in Japanese fabric leads Shannon down that familiar path of replaying an interaction she wishes had gone differently. Janine counte...

Some days the hardest part of any task isn't doing it—it's stopping what you're doing so you can do the next thing. That shows up everywhere: going for a run, getting into (and out of) the shower, heading to an appointment, downsizing to a new home, or simply standing up from your desk. Along the way there are tomato plants that suddenly need cages, dogs who don't want to leave the air conditionin...

The way we talk to ourselves is easy to ignore because it's happening all the time. Most of us don't stop to wonder whether that little voice is actually helping—or quietly making everything a little harder. A simple observation about motivation opens up a conversation about encouragement, resistance, and the surprisingly big difference a small shift in wording can make. Along the way there are yo...

Celebrating the People, Not the Plan From a college graduation in 97-degree heat, a wedding planner making questionable choices, and a refrigerator stocked with canned sparkling rosé just in case someone deserves celebrating—this conversation goes exactly where you'd expect a conversation between Shannon and Janine to go! What starts with Shannon's weekend celebrating her son's college graduation...

Forty thousand photos. That's how many photos both Shannon and Janine discovered they have on their phones, give or take a couple hundred. The discovery immediately raised a question: if there are forty thousand photos in there, why can't you find the one you're actually looking for? From puppy pictures and sunrise photos to garden snapshots and Wordle screenshots, they talk about what's filling u...

Our three hundredth episode feels like a good excuse to look back. Sitting together in the same room for a change, Shannon and Janine find themselves reflecting on a friendship that started online, survived long stretches without regular contact, and somehow turned into both a decades-long friendship and a 300-episode podcast. Along the way, they talk about the things that seem to make any relatio...

Summer has a way of sneaking up on us. One minute it's Memorial Day, and the next it's Labor Day and we're wondering where the time went. Most of us have at least a vague idea of what we want our summer to be like. Maybe we'd love more time at home, a project we've been meaning to tackle, a little adventure, or simply a slower pace. But unless we're intentional, summer has a tendency to fill itsel...

Sometimes the hardest part of getting things done isn't the list itself—it's how the list feels. When a project, task list, or responsibility starts to feel enormous, it's easy to assume the overwhelm is coming from the work. But often, what's driving the experience is the story, image, or feeling we've attached to it. The work may be exactly the same, while our relationship to it changes complete...

Some decisions really matter. Many of them… probably don’t. And yet somehow it’s often the tiny daily choices that eat up the most energy. What do you wear when it’s 57 degrees and windy? Where’s the “right” place to put that one random thing you don’t want to lose? Which version of the exact same product should you buy online? For people with perfectionist tendencies, these little decisions can q...

Learning something new can be humbling, especially when something that used to take 15 seconds suddenly takes 45 minutes. This week, Shannon and Janine talk about what it’s like to be a beginner again — the frustration, the challenge, and sometimes even the fun of figuring things out from scratch. The conversation explores why some difficult things feel worth pushing through while others make us w...

Ever find yourself scrolling social media even while a part of your brain is begging you to stop? Or staring at your to-do list so long that suddenly reorganizing pens feels like a reasonable life choice? In this episode, Shannon and Janine talk about the surprisingly powerful little resets that can help when you feel stuck, overwhelmed, distracted, paralyzed, or just mentally done. And the best p...

Ever find yourself “planning to plan”… and somehow never actually starting? In this episode, Shannon and Janine talk about how perfectionism sneaks into planning—especially when the stakes feel high. What starts as wanting to be responsible (hello, disaster prep and estate planning) can quietly turn into overthinking, avoidance, and doing nothing at all. With a real-life interruption (tornado sire...

Most of us don’t sit around chatting about money for fun. Usually, if money comes up, it’s because something feels off—stress, a mistake, that vague sense that things should be better than they are. In this episode, Shannon and Janine talk about financial perfectionism—what it looks like, how it sneaks in, and why trying to “do money right” can actually make everything feel harder. They also share...

You sit down to send a quick email—and somehow 15 minutes later, you’re still tweaking it. If you’ve ever wondered why some things feel weirdly hard to finish, this episode gets at the heart of it. Shannon and Janine explore what “enough” actually means—and why it’s not about doing less, but about aligning your effort with what’s important to you. Because when you’re clear on what matters (whether...

You know those little things that make life easier—but somehow feel like you shouldn’t need them? Maybe it’s using a tool, asking for help, or doing something in a way that just works better for you. And still, there’s that voice saying it’s cheating… or not the “right” way. In this episode, we talk about where that thinking comes from, how it shows up in everyday decisions, and what changes when...

You start with the best intentions… and then something throws everything off. A text, a distraction, a schedule shift—and suddenly the plan you meant to follow is gone. In this episode, we talk about what actually happens when things don’t go as planned—whether it’s a new habit, a routine, or just your day. Because it’s not a matter of if something will derail you, it’s when . We also get into wha...