Harrison Ford and the search for perfection

A conversation with friends this weekend saw girls quickly pitted against guys on the subject of good enough vs perfect.

The wives on one side, voiced their frustration about jobs being left unfinished. The husbands on the other countered that the main outcome is often achieved, but perhaps there’s some finishing off to do.

My example: I demolished a wooden play frame in the garden last summer, so that we could make better use of the area and move the kids’ trampoline into the shade.

With both those things achieved, that looked like success to me!

But the wood from the frame is still in a pile on the ground and we haven’t laid the decking that we said might look good there.

So my wife disagrees with my assessment. (This is also an example of ‘feedback’ I took into training this year, as I talked about here).

As with many jobs over the years, my garden demolition is now both finished and unfinished, depending on who you ask.

Harrison Ford to the rescue?!

Whilst we were having this debate, each side becoming more entrenched in their position (mostly for fun, I hasten to add), I remembered a strong quote from Harrison Ford I found recently on Dan Pink’s website.

Surely Indiana Jones/Han Solo, the ultimate man’s man, would be on the side of the chaps?

“When I was a carpenter, I once worked with this Russian lady architect. I would tell her, ‘Look, I’m terribly sorry, but I want to change that a half inch,’ and she would say, ‘No limit for better.’ I think that is a worthy credo. You keep on going until you get it as close to being right as the time and patience of others will allow.”

Needless to say, I didn’t bring this up. It wouldn’t have done us guys any good.

But what a great quote!

How about that for someone taking their craft seriously? Or wanting the best outcome from everything they do? Someone who wants a reputation that other people spread for them… this is a saying for them.

And maybe, admittedly, begrudgingly, for wives wanting to get the extra 20% out of their husbands.

No limit for better. I’ll take this mantra into the week ahead with me.