“Good enough” is not a cop-out. It’s actually a decision strategy called satisficing, and once you understand satisficing vs maximizing, the science makes a pretty strong case for stopping sooner than you think.
The concept has a name: satisficing. Economist Herbert Simon coined it to describe how people make smart decisions under limited time, information, and mental energy. The short version: you define an acceptable threshold, you stop when you hit it, and you move on. The opposite, maximizing, means you keep searching for the best possible option, long past the point where it’s doing you any good. One of these approaches tends to produce better outcomes and less burnout. Spoiler: it’s not the one that involves agonizing over every detail at 1 a.m.
Key Takeaways
- Satisficing, choosing ‘good enough’ over ‘optimal’, is a formal decision strategy first described by economist Herbert Simon, not a fancy word for laziness.
- A large study of over 50,000 people across 36 countries found that extra work effort was associated with reduced well-being and inferior career outcomes, per Insurance Business.
- A PMC review defines ‘good enough’ precisely: sufficient benefits, no critical problems, and a point where further improvement would be more harmful than helpful.
- Perfectionism can shrink satisfaction, make mistakes feel bigger, and contribute to stress, anxiety, and burnout, per Flinders University research.
- Setting a real deadline is one of the most practical ways to stop polishing and ship, because the finish line has to exist before you can cross it.
What the Research Says About Satisficing vs Maximizing
A large study covering more than 50,000 people across 36 countries found that extra work effort was associated with reduced well-being and inferior career outcomes, per Insurance Business. More effort, worse results. That’s not a motivational poster anyone is printing, but it’s worth sitting with.
Meanwhile, a PMC review puts a usefully precise definition on “good enough”: it’s the point where there are sufficient benefits, no critical problems, and further improvement would be more harmful than helpful, per PMC. Notice what that definition is NOT. It’s not “meh, whatever.” It has actual criteria. You’re not lowering the bar, you’re just setting it somewhere before you start running, which is the whole trick.
Perfectionism, by contrast, tends to shrink your satisfaction, make every mistake feel like a personal indictment, and contribute to stress, anxiety, and burnout, per Flinders University. Which, if you’ve ever spent three hours rewriting the first paragraph of an email nobody will read twice (hi), tracks.
How to Actually Use This
The satisficing move is simple to describe and genuinely annoying to execute: define “done” before you start.
What does “good enough” look like for this specific task? Write it down. One sentence. If you can’t define it, you’ll polish forever, because your brain will always find something to improve, and it will dress that up as diligence. (It is not diligence. It’s anxiety in a blazer.)
A few practical handles:
- Set a real deadline, then a short one. The CLIR research specifically recommends short deadlines as a way to force shipping over endless refinement. Constraints aren’t the enemy of quality; they’re what quality hides inside when left alone too long.
- Borrow from the 80/20 idea. A minority of inputs tends to drive a majority of results. Figure out which 20% of effort gets you 80% of the outcome, do that well, and stop. The last 20% of “perfect” often costs more than the first 80% of “done.”
- Name your threshold out loud. “This draft is good enough when it answers the question clearly and has no obvious errors.” Not “when it’s the best thing I’ve ever written.” Those are different finish lines, and only one of them you’ll be able to cross in time.
This is the same logic behind learning a new skill as an adult, you don’t need concert-hall technique to get genuine joy out of playing guitar. You need to be good enough to enjoy it. The finish line is yours to plant.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is satisficing vs maximizing in simple terms?
Satisficing means choosing the first option that meets your criteria and stopping there. Maximizing means continuing to search for the best possible option, regardless of how long it takes. Per PMC, satisficing to describe how people make rational decisions under limited time and cognitive capacity. In practice, maximizers tend to be less happy with their choices even when those choices are objectively better.
Is “good enough” the same as being lazy or having low standards?
No, and the distinction matters. A PMC review defines “good enough” as reaching a point of sufficient benefits with no critical problems, where further improvement would actually cause more harm than good, per PMC. That’s a standard with real criteria.
Can perfectionism actually hurt your career?
The data suggests yes. A study of over 50,000 people across 36 countries found that extra work effort was linked to reduced well-being and worse career outcomes, per Insurance Business. More effort past the point of “good enough” tends to cost you more than it earns you.
How do I know when something is actually good enough?
Ask yourself three things: Does it do what it needs to do? Are there any critical problems? Would fixing anything else cost more than it’s worth right now? If the answers are yes, no, and yes, you’re done. Science says so, and you can go to bed.
Does this apply to big decisions or just small tasks?
Both. Simon’s original satisficing model was specifically about decision-making under real-world constraints, limited time, limited information, limited mental energy. The bigger the decision, the more useful it is to define your threshold in advance, because the stakes make the perfectionism spiral worse, not better.
The one thing you can do today: pick one task you’ve been “almost finishing” and write one sentence that defines what done looks like. Not perfect. Done. Then go hit it.
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Thoughts?