Getting to Good Enough

This week, we're re-running Episode 21 from October 2018. It gets to the heart one of our most important recurring themes, so we thought it would be worthwhile to revisit. The bedrock of all the advice we offer on this podcast is, "Know what's important to you." In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss how to get in touch with your values so that you can more easily embrace good enough. Discuss...

This week, we're re-running Episode 7, from way back in July 2018. It presents a core message of our podcast that we thought was worth another listen. Enjoy! It's hard to know how to stop at good enough if you haven't identified what good enough means to you. Shannon and Janine discuss why it's important to understand your own standards of good enough--and how those standards are very personal. Di...

The prospect of changing a habit can feel difficult--but it doesn't have to be. The pandemic has given most of us a crash course in habit changing! In this episode, Shannon and Janine discuss some of the habits we've changed recently, along with some ways to make habit changing easier. Discussion topics include: • How under the right circumstances, habit change can be easy • Some of the many habit...

The notion of choosing imperfection (rather than striving for perfection) is counter-intuitive to folks with perfectionistic tendencies. But it can be a helpful way to approach things. In this episode Janine and Shannon discuss the benefits of choosing imperfection and the joys of welcoming imperfection into our lives. Discussion topics include: • How Janine chose imperfection when she made a flye...

Shannon and Janine both embrace being authentic. But we understand that if you have a tendency toward perfectionism that it can be hard not to strive to appear perfect. In this episode, we discuss the value of authenticity and how it can make your life easier. Discussion topics include: • How perfectionism can make it harder to show up authentically and be your true self in public • How sharing yo...

Little by little, we can make big strides toward our goals. The trouble is sometimes it's hard to even notice the tiny progress that we make. In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss incremental improvement and how it can make a huge difference in our lives. Discussion topics include: • The power of noticing small improvements • How it can be hard to take a step back and look at how far you’ve...

Shannon and Janine recorded this episode after experiencing some pretty significant unanticipated events on our September trips. Shannon's eastern Oregon RV trip was disrupted by heavy smoke from the wildfires and Janine, whose stay in Walla Walla was also affected by the smoke, had to grapple with her computer becoming inoperable during her big driving trip. This week we discuss how our careful p...

Janine and Shannon agree that this November's election feels like the most important in our lifetime. We're committed to helping get out the vote and want to help you make sure you're able to vote. We also want to help you help others vote, so we've put together some resources to help make taking action easier. We discuss the following steps with resources for each in the Links section below: • Le...

Shannon and Janine are both taking road trips the first week in September that require a good deal of preparation. This week we discuss how we've been trying to be plan productively without letting perfectionism hold us up. Discussion topics include:  • The paradox of 2020: How can it only be September and also how is it September already? • How we're trying not to let perfectionism get in th...

Sometimes perfectionism can hide from view so we don't even realize it's happening. In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss that sneaky perfectionism, how it can show up and how "good enough" can be helpful. Discussion topics include: • Shannon’s flying her “recovering perfectionist” flag high in this episode! • She discovered in a coaching session that perfectionism was lurking sneakily behin...

For some people, the process of doing something is more important than the finished product and for other folks it's the other way around. This week, Shannon and Janine discuss process vs product and how it might be helpful to look at it from the other perspective. Discussion topics include: • The inspiration for this episode: a story about a ceramics teacher who graded half the class on quantity...

Both Janine and Shannon have bounced around using various task-management systems over the years. But Janine's been using a specific Trello task-management  board every day now for the past four months and is bursting with excitement to talk about it. Shannon's using it too and in this episode we break down the benefits of the Daily Task Management Trello board. Discussion topics include: • J...

Setting boundaries allows you to live a life based on your core values. This week, Shannon and Janine discuss getting in touch with what's important to you as a way to help you set boundaries that ensure you're doing the things that align with your why. They use a recent real-life example to illustrate how they recently benefited from boundary setting. Discussion topics include: • How it can be ha...

Our lives these days are shrouded in uncertainty. This week Janine and Shannon discuss building in some margin to make life--and decision-making--a little easier. Discussion topics include: • Creating a margin in your life so you have some flexibility • How this is particularly important during times of uncertainty (like now) • What we mean by margin • How things often don’t go as planned, even if...

Shannon attended protests in Portland in support of Black Lives Matter just a few days before we recorded this episode. This week, Shannon and Janine talk about the challenges of having difficult conversations around systemic racism and Shannon shares what she's learned in recent weeks of activism. Discussion topics include: • The reason Shannon’s throat is scratchy: She participated in Black Live...

For many of us, the pandemic has made a tendency to procrastinate painfully obvious. We're not as busy, yet we're still procrastinating. But there's hope! This week Janine and Shannon talk about the four main productivity blocks and how they can be easy to get past. Discussion topics include: • The summer heat! • How these days we can’t blame being busy for not getting stuff done • The four main p...

Whether we like it or not, Zoom has become a part of the lives of many (if not most) of us, thanks to COVID-19. In this episode, Shannon and Janine letting go of perfectionism around Zoom to make it less stressful.  Discussion topics include: • The challenging transition from phone coaching to Zoom coaching for Shannon • Shannon’s iPad + computer set up that allows her to take notes on her la...

It's July already (finally?) and Janine and Shannon revisited the goals they set way back at the end of 2019. This week we discuss the value of taking some time to visit, and perhaps refresh, our goals in this year that took such an unexpected turn. Discussion topics include: • The paradox of 2020: It seems impossible that it’s the middle of the year already, yet the first half of the year feels l...

If you're uncomfortable with doing something imperfectly it's hard to learn new skills. In this episode, Shannon and Janine discuss opening yourself up to "perfect floundering" so that you can go ahead and do things that you don't already know how to do. Discussion topics include: • The discomfort of floundering, especially for perfectionists • The amazing prospect of striving to flounder perfectl...

What if you were able to shed your perfectionistic tendencies so that you could create something BIG in the service of doing GOOD? That's what our amazing guest, Vanessa Foerster, did less than a month ago when she created the Diversify Triathlon Movement. Janine and Shannon were thrilled to talk with her about the movement and how she had to let go of perfectionism in order to create it. Discussi...

If you feel overwhelmed by everything that's going on around you, it can be hard to do anything. In this episode, Shannon and Janine discuss how choosing just one thing to do can allow you to move forward. Discussion topics include: • Taking delight in little things in nature • Choosing just one thing to do—and doing it—when you’re feeling overwhelmed • How the current climate can be paralyzing&nb...

Voting is always important. But this year, at least in the U.S., being able to vote feels more important than ever. And because of the COVID crisis, voting might present a challenge this year. In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss the value of planning ahead to vote and getting past any perfectionistic tendencies that might be getting in the way of that. Discussion topics include: • Our two-...

Protests over police brutality being met by police brutality. A global pandemic. Coming to terms with the fact that not being racist is not enough--we need to be anti-racist. All of these things can lead to a lot of discomfort. In this episode, Shannon and Janine discuss balancing the discomfort with the need to take action and the need to take care of ourselves. Discussion topics include: • The d...

We are taking this week to amplify black voices and share resources to learn more about becoming an ally and anti-racist. We are learning how to do this. We’ll make mistakes, listen, learn and keep trying to do better. Join us. To our black and brown listeners, we’re sorry it took us so long to get here. To our white listeners, here are our resources to help you be an ally and learn about anti-rac...

Just think how much easier life would be if you could enjoy imperfection rather than fretting about it. Shannon and Janine's discussion on enjoying imperfection this episode was sparked by some wonderful observations from Deborah Underwood, a children's book author. Discussion topics include: • The lovely words in a Facebook post from a successful children’s book author that sparked this post • En...