Getting to Good Enough

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...

You know that feeling when something doesn’t go the way you thought it would—and it hits harder than you'd like? In this episode, we’re talking about expectations—how they show up in everything from travel plans to dentist appointments to your everyday to-do list, and how they quietly shape your entire experience. We share real-life examples (including a very competitive 97-year-old card player, a...

Imposter syndrome can show up when we’re comparing ourselves to other people, trying to be perfect, or worrying we’ll be judged and “found out.” In this episode, we talk about how imposter syndrome has shifted for us with age and experience—and why authenticity helps so much. We dig into how social media is curated (and built to work with the algorithm), why it’s such a trap to compare your real l...

In this episode, we’re talking about imperfect fitness —the kind where you don’t have to do it perfectly to keep going. We share why having a clear goal can make exercise feel so much more doable (and honestly, more fun), especially if perfectionism tends to make you freeze up or quit. Shannon tells Janine about signing up for the Oslo Marathon 10K happening in September while she's traveling in S...

Do you have a tiny annoyance you keep living with—like gunk on your iPad screen, dirty glasses, or something around the house that almost works but not quite? In this episode, we talk about tolerations : those little everyday frustrations we tell ourselves aren’t worth dealing with… even though they keep charging us a fee in irritation and mental energy. We also touch on how perfectionism can snea...

Do you ever tell yourself you’ll relax after you finish one more thing—then somehow you don’t relax and you don’t finish the thing? In this episode, we talk about the “I’ll feel better when…” trap: waiting for the perfect weather, the organized house, the cleared inbox, or the magical moment when everything is finally done. We look at how this shows up in everyday life (like skipping a walk becaus...

Sometimes a productivity system can be great… until it suddenly isn’t. In this episode, we talk about what to do when your usual way of getting things done starts to feel stale, frustrating, or just not effective anymore—especially after a big life change. We chat about why it’s normal for tools and routines to stop working, how novelty and “reward” can help you re-enter real life after a chaotic...

When life feels tight or difficult, it’s easy to focus on what’s not going right. In this episode, we talk about how celebrating small wins —even the silly, ridiculous ones—can support motivation , build self-compassion , and help us practice progress over perfection . We share real-life examples (like Shannon’s surprise “lip balm shot” into the trash, a stress-free elevator ride, and surviving a...

What if your hobbies could be the one place you don’t have to optimize, be productive, or “do it right”? In this episode, we talk about keeping hobbies fun—especially when perfectionism shows up and makes us hesitate to start, abandon a project, or turn enjoyment into pressure. We share real-life examples from knitting, bullet journaling, visible mending, watercolor and sketchbooks, and even readi...

Multitasking sounds like a superpower, but most of the time it’s really task switching —jumping back and forth so fast we don’t notice the cost. In this episode, we talk about the difference between true multitasking and rapid switching, and why switching can make you less effective, less productive, and less present. We also share a few real-life examples (knitting while watching TV, exercising w...

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed lately, you’re not alone. In this episode, we talk about what it’s like when what’s happening in the world takes up more of our bandwidth than we realize—and how that can show up as low energy, stress, and doomscrolling. We remind ourselves that even when we’re not personally in immediate danger, it still takes real energy to be in the world right now. So we expl...

This week we’re getting real about that all-too-familiar feeling behind—whether it’s your to-do list, New Year’s intentions, or just life in general. We talk about what rushing actually looks like in our lives, why it rarely helps with time management, and how our culture’s obsession with busyness (and perfectionism) can make us feel like we’re never caught up. We share how we’re reframing what pr...