Getting to Good Enough

Janine and Shannon have made the difficult decision to stop recording the podcast. In this episode, we discuss how we came to that decision and how life-changing the podcast has been for us. We are so grateful to our listeners for their attention and support over the five years of this podcast. We hope that you've benefited from listening. Our plan is to keep past episodes of the podcast available indefinitely, so you can listen to any of the other 253(!) episodes whenever you want. If you're so inclined, please leave a comment on the show notes of this episode and let us know how Getting to Good Enough has made a difference in your life! Or feel free to leave us a voicemail at 314-413-GTGE.

Getting a great night's sleep can be elusive, especially as we get older. Shannon and Janine have tried a lot of things to improve the quality of their sleep and we're excited to discuss them in this episode. We provide lots of great links with this one! Discussion topics include: • The good old days when we could get a good night's sleep and not even notice • The app Shannon uses to check her sleep: AutoSleep • The sleep app Janine uses: Sleep Cycle • Shannon's sleep-talking habit (she runs meetings in her sleep!) • The double-edged sword of electronically monitoring your sleep • Adjusting your sleep goals so you can achieve them more often • Shannon's current sleep solution: Drinking four ounces of tart cherry juice • Janine's current sleep solution: Dream Powder • The challenge of varying temperature preferences when you're sharing a bed • Shannon's eucalyptus weighted blanket • Listening to sleep stories to get to sleep • Shannon's sleep mask with embedded bluetooth speakers! • Practicing good sleep hygiene Be sure to visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links to everything we talked about.

Why is it so hard to acknowledge our small victories? In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss taking the win and how it's good for our productivity (and our health!). Discussion topics include: • How it can be hard to accept that what you've done is valuable and counts even if it's not perfect • The (erroneous) idea that if you feel good about what you've done you might slack off • Would you play a game on your phone if all it did was buzz you when you got something wrong? • How the things that are most addictive are the things that are rewarding you constantly for doing something • If we talk to our friends the way we tend to talk to ourselves, we wouldn't have a lot of friends • Remember: Everything counts (even the easy stuff)! You can still take the win. • A good companion to your to-do list: A "Done" list • Paying attention to the areas where you could be kinder to yourself and feel good about what you've done • How taking the win can help you get more done • Accepting compliments (and taking them in) • The person who gave us the idea for this topic: Shannon's husband, Mike! Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com.

Shannon's back from Italy and we're running some episodes we recorded before she left. This week, Shannon and Janine are talking about the beauty of taking a simple approach to starting something and how that can be challenging for perfectionists. Discussion topics include: • Our virtual retreat to plan our YNAB coaching practices (simpler than trying to figure out how to work together in person) • How starting simple can help you actually get started on a project • Leaving open the possibility for change when you're starting something • Applying this concept to decluttering your closet • How Janine made starting her car-buying process very simple by buying what Shannon had • The beauty of narrowing down your options (and how Shannon accomplished that when she built her most recent house) • How starting simple can make a project feel less overwhelming • Remember: it's not necessary to plan every single step of a project before you start it (something that perfectionists tend to want to do) • How you can get more information with each step of a project (after you get started) • Starting simple by guessing • Figuring out what barriers need to be taken away to allow you to get started • Getting past the "What If?" • Recognizing that what feels simple to one person may not feel simple to someone else Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links!

It's our 250th episode! This week we're re-running an episode from May 2021, almost exactly two years ago. Next week, keep an eye out for a new episode. Getting comfortable with stopping at good enough (rather than pursuing perfection) can be tough for some people. But it can also be really beneficial. This week Janine and Shannon talk about how and why to feel good about good enough. Discussion topics include: • Embracing the goodness of "good enough" • Rejecting the negative connotations of "good enough" and "taking the easy way out" • The journey of getting comfortable with good enough • How Shannon was able to get more comfortable with good enough a little at a time • Questioning the thoughts you have about perfectionism to make it easier to embrace good enough • Paying attention to progress (and feeling good about progress), rather than trying to do something perfectly • Being okay with what's reasonable as opposed to striving for the unreasonable expectation of perfection • Practicing feeling good about good enough in every day life • Shannon's practice of feeling good about good enough (and working little and often) in her garden-clean-up efforts • Shannon's good-enough lawn mowing practice • The beauty of being able to walk away from something knowing that it's goof enough (if not perfect) • Saving bandwidth by embracing good enough • Being kind to yourself about having a bad memory

This week we're offering a repeat from January 2020. Shannon and Janine are living the "less is more" mantra this year as Shannon makes it a focus of her 2020 goals and Janine focuses on helping her organizing clients let go of excess. In this episode, they discuss how less stuff can add up to more freedom and happiness. Discussion topics include: • One of Shannon’s focuses for 2020: Letting go of excess • How Shannon feels encumbered by her stuff • A cogent quote from one of Janine’s clients: “I feel handcuffed to my house because of this stuff” • How stuff tends to proliferate when you don’t focus on it • The natural tendency to fill up empty space • How having extra space after you finish decluttering is a good thing • Shannon’s plan to re-embrace a version of Project 333 for her wardrobe • The joy (and beauty) of a not-full closet • How excess can get in the way of people’s freedom and happiness • Janine's truism: The more you keep of a collection, the less special any of it is • Clearing out the excess so you can enjoy and access what you decide to keep • Storing items according to frequency of use • Shannon’s shopping-list strategies that stop her from overbuying • Less is more in practice: How Janine and Shannon decluttered their topics list for this podcast • The key to less is more: Paying attention to what feels good about it and knowing why you want it Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links!

We first published this episode back in February 2019. It feels more relevant than ever in our post-pandemic world. If you feel you should be running at 100 percent capacity, you're not doing yourself any favors. This week Janine and Shannon discuss personal capacity and how making sure you're giving yourself plenty of room capacity-wise can help you be happier and less stressed. Discussion topics include: How personal capacity is like the memory capacity of your computer or phone - when you fill it up, everything slows down The fact that it's unreasonable to expect that you can function at 100 percent capacity • How unnecessary thoughts can take up valuable personal capacity • Letting go of worry so that you can use that energy for more important things • The many things that factor into personal capacity, including having a realistic perception of how long something will take • Managing your own expectations of what you can get done in a given amount of time • Setting yourself up for success with a realistic task list • Ways you can expand your capacity (hint: stop overthinking and close up your loops) • Getting stuff out of your head and onto paper (or pixels) to free up your brain Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links!

Shannon's on vacation, so we're rerunning some favorite episodes for the next month or so. This week, we're revisiting Janine's bad day in 2021 and how Shannon helped her (and, we hope, you) turn it around. Everyone has a bad day some time. On the day we recorded this episode, Janine was experiencing a bad day that left a dark cloud hanging over her head. Shannon was able to make suggestions that helped her (and can help you) make a bad day better. Discussion topics include: • How it's possible to reset bad day • Janine's terrible, horrible, no good very bad day • Taking a step back during a bad day and looking on the bright side • Wallowing vs trying to snap out of it • "Yes, and..." • The importance of acknowledging when something sucks; it allows your unconscious mind to feel gratitude • Learning from our bad days • Giving yourself a reset by moving your body and shifting your energy • Getting in touch with what's important to you to help you get past a bad day • The value of a good laugh on a bad day Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links!

Bothered by an overabundance of paper and email? This episode is for you. Last week, Shannon and Janine discussed working through backlogs and this week we share some strategies for creating systems so those backlogs don't come back. Specifically we talk about ideas for email, snail mail and paper in general. Discussion topics include: • How having a system allows you to bounce back when stuff piles up during transitions • That it’s totally normal for systems to fail sometimes • The more successful your system, the smoother things will go • Creating systems for email • Automating systems as much as possible • Unsubscribing from email lists • The value of daily attention to email • Shannon’s strategy for handling her email by ignoring it most of the time • Freedom Filer, the filing system that changed Shannon’s life • Being very discerning about the paper you want to keep in your life • Shannon’s need for a system for storing her cartoons and urban sketch notebooks • Keeping accessibility top of mind when setting up storage systems Visit the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for links!

We published this episode back in February 2020 and unfortunately backlogs are not a thing of the past! We thought we'd rerun it for those who are still dealing with this challenge. When stuff piles up in your home or office it can overwhelming to contemplate plowing through it and getting rid of the backlog. Add perfectionist tendencies to the equation and it can be even more challenging. In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss some strategies for working through a backlog. Stay tuned next week when we discuss preventing pileups so the backlogs don't come back. Discussion topics include: • The satisfaction of working through a backlog • Our own current backlogs • Dealing with a (tremendous!) email backlog • Picking the low-hanging fruit first • How putting like things together can help you decide to get rid of stuff • An easier way of dealing with filing: Keep less paper! • The value of doing a high-level presort before filing • How a timer can help you get through your backlog • Allowing yourself to deal with a backlog with as much ease as possible • Isolating a backlog to allow you to work on it a little at a time without adding to it • Dealing with a backlog of postal mail • Remember: The job’s not done until the tools are put away See the show notes at www.gettingtogoodenough.com for a link and an update!