The Trap of “Good” Things

Photo by Brendan Church on Unsplash

A thing being “good” or “right” isn’t sufficient criteria to actually “do” it.

Life doesn’t often require us to choose between “good” and “bad” or “right” and “wrong”. It usually asks us to choose one of many equally “good” options.

Examples:

• Going to college A vs. college B
• Working for company A vs. company B
• Donating to charity A vs. charity B

“Good” and “Bad” in these decisions is a spectrum; not a polarity. I.e. each decision has a range of “good” aspects to it (the pros) and a range of “bad” aspects to it (the cons).

Our time is limited. We can’t do everything.

As such, we should focus on the MOST good thing we can do NOW, and intentionally say “no” to the lesser good things in our lives.

That’s how we can make great progress in an important direction, instead of feeling like we’re making little progress in every direction.