“Sometimes good is the enemy of great” - Donte Miller
When someone tells you something is good for you, they are often persuading you to settle. Settling for most is a good thing. Settling means comfort. Settling means that you’ll know what's ahead because you’ve established a routine where you predict the outcomes before they happen. Good means above average but not excellent. Good means achievable and measurable.
What happens when you step into GREAT?
I sit next to my partner as he mumbles quietly these powerful seven words just so the four listening ears could hear. “Sometimes good is the enemy of great.” We sit nestled in a private winery located in the mountains of South Africa. Already on our third glass of wine, we fall into a conversation of finding solace in Africa, dreaming of a life outside the confinements of America, and landing in a place where freedom is felt as soon as your feet touch the soil. Being in Africa with a Black man feels like magic. It tastes like liberation. There is a lightness in his steps and the way he leans in close to me as we confess our dreams of what life could be. He says again, “Sometimes good is the enemy of great.” I quickly type these words on my phone so as not to forget them. They sit in the nape of my neck, ready for me to lean into each syllable.
What is on the other side of good? Something greater.
Great means abundance and infinite possibility. Great means transcendence. Great means discomfort and the unknown. It means welcoming healthy risks. It means failing more than once while knowing you’re closer to your liberation. Great means that you never second guess your gifts and you give them to the world even if it only meets one hungry ear.
When I think about greatness, I think about all of us who are holding ourselves back from our full potential. I think about all the times when we’ve convinced ourselves that this wasn’t the right time.
Greatness is possible even in the absence of time.
I land in Cape Town before my partner is set to arrive. I plan my timing perfectly to land just one hour before his arrival. I look up at the screen with the arrival times and corresponding airlines and see his flight is delayed three hours. Initially, I want to leave, find a place to eat, watch the sunset, mosey on the beach and take in the coastal air. Instead, I order three Savannah dry ciders at the Cape Town Airport. I plug in my earphones and open my laptop and begin drafting a contract for a project that I accepted before I boarded. I wasn’t supposed to be working on vacation. I did it anyway. Hopping on the last few minutes of the zoom where the artist was pitching, I hear the excitement in the client and artist's voice. Despite the timing, I feel the universe conspiring me to follow the path forward.
Sometimes great is an inconvenience.
Our greatest moments often land at the most inconvenient time. We get a call of a lifetime while at the same time see our personal world crumble. For me this was the ultimate inconvenience, I would be traveling internationally for the first time with my partner, his mom, and his team. I was also managing a flooded home, an exploded, now defunct, water heater and pipes bursted underneath the home. I carried my anxiety with me. Found myself more exhausted than not. Needing more rest than usual.
When you accept greatness at inconvenient moments, you are acknowledging that while it may not be the right time, you give yourself permission to lean into the uncomfort while prioritizing yourself and your needs. Greatness doesn't mean abandonment of self. So there were moments when I slept in and set boundaries to have uninterrupted time to be completely present with my new life experiences.
Ultimately, greatness is a binding contract with yourself. It’s something that you sign, execute, and deliver on.
Too often we place our potential in other people’s hands. We place validation on an instagram post. We look for verbal acknowledgement in public from our peers. We want that one text for someone to tell us that we are doing a great job. I’ve learned to talk to myself in the quiet hours of the night before I go to bed. I ask myself, did I do my absolute best? Did I bring my authentic self to the table? If I couldn't, did I politely decline and reschedule? Did I honor my obligations of presence and attentiveness? Did I grant myself permission to get lost in the deep work of my vision?
Your greatness contract should be ambitious without a definitive timeline. Time is a social construct that will have you thinking that you’re running out instead of ramping up. Time is always on your side.
Your GREAT contract will have time working for you and never against you. When I think about the projects my partner dreams boldly out loud and his unwavering faith that they will come to pass amplifies my imagination. While I am a dreamer, I am rooted in logic. I love a clear, actionable, measurable roadmap of how to get something done. This season is calling in something different. I believe this season is calling for something different for all of us. I truly believe this year is a year of reaping and intentionally planting great seeds and not just good ones.
It’s a year where we say yes even if we don’t understand the reason behind it.
I order a strawberry gin cocktail. I sit next to him while he talks about economics, technology, NFTs, and the future of Africa. I listen attentively as he visions boldly what he sees for himself, his community and his family. I stare in awe at his authority and commitment. I whisper to him, I don’t want to but I have to leave soon, “can you schedule my Uber to the airport.” At four thirty sharp, he walks me to the car. Tears begin to stream down my face. I couldn’t hold them back, I start to cry and my eyes turn red, my body gets warm, and my emotions completely overwhelm me. He looks at me knowing he will see me after our long journey home, welcoming me into his arms to recount what we just experienced, looking at the pictures in awe of ourselves. He smiles, squeezes me tight, and says, “see you soon." In his eyes, I see him searching for freedom as he walks back to the table to close out the tab and take one last look at the ocean. Freedom for him, is on the other side of good. Freedom for all of us lives in great.
What does it look like when we all bathe in freedom when we first wake up, knowing we made a contract with ourselves to step into our greatness.
“Sometimes good is the enemy of great.”
Stop settling for good and waiting on great.
Ps. I love you all and have deeply missed writing to you. I am excited to be back in your inboxes. I have so much to share.
Love opens up the world's beauty in such a profound way. I love the way you acknowledge the subtleties that pivot our lives in such an important way. Thank you!
This was so timely, Tiffany! Thank you for sharing and speaking this word over me this morning. I love when I read things that give me the permission to step into something different, something more.