Do you remember that moment? When the rocket boosters from the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket fell back to earth and landed exactly where they were supposed to? It was incredible to watch, like a Marvel movie happening in real life.

Those were some fantastic results.

Creating results

Results are what we create through our actions. We’re not the only things creating results though. Animals create results. Natural forces create results. They are being created constantly, by us and all around us.

How your brain interprets these results creates your unique experience of life.

Your own results

When it comes to personal results, the brain can get highly critical. Since your personal results are the ones most determinate of your survival (at least in your minds eye), your brain might rely on a belief that seems to be pervasive in human thinking: it’s not good enough.

In some ways it is fantastic that we have this belief. It can drive us to stop shedding one-time use rocket boosters in space, and instead create rocket boosters that can guide themselves back to earth to be used again.

I’m also personally glad that there are a lot of smart humans that think just allowing a novel virus to run through the population ins’t good enough, and who are now feverishly working on a vaccine to protect humanity.

Sometimes, this belief can be used as an asset. But when it comes to personal results, that belief can also be a detriment to mental health. Constantly believing the personal results you create aren’t good enough can lead to a lot of fear and anxiety. To a scared brain, not being good enough could lead to getting kicked out of the tribe, which could mean dying alone in the wilderness.

Yes, this is dramatic, but it’s a very strong force still at play in human brains, the need to belong to a pack. So how do you find a good balance between allowing some results to be good enough, and some to not be?

Two Questions

I’d like to encourage you to answer these two questions:

• What do you value most about the human experience?

Here are a few ideas: love, romance, family, human rights, health, wealth, money, enlightenment, empowerment, adventure, autonomy, socializing, knowledge, art, religion, spirituality, strength, compassion, altruism, relaxation, connecting to nature…

Once you’ve made a list of what you value, answer this question:

• Is what I’m doing right now going to create a result that will support what I value?

The answer won’t always be yes. In fact, it might often be no. But I think if you can shift the answer to being yes more often than no you’re going to naturally create a balance between the good enough and not good enough effort.

You’ll figure out what’s worth using your energy to take action, and what isn’t. And figuring this out you’ll start to train your brain to prefer to up level your results. You’ll see what results are good enough, but you’ll also recognize the results that you know you can make better.

It’s very easy to not intellectually consider the results we’re creating. Life gets busy, our brain gets into a habitual groove, and the result wheel just does its thing.

But know that if those results aren’t supporting what you value most in life, you have the power to create different results. It takes new thinking, feeling, and acting. A coach can help you do that.

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