STYLE Savvy: Reframing 'Good Enough'

Lisa Hess takes a look at her routines to determine which tasks are worth the extra effort.

Lately, I’ve been noticing that I care a lot less about going the extra mile in some areas of my life — not the important ones, just things I used to care about a lot more than I do now. I was a little worried about this drop in motivation, concerned it might signify something more; counselors have to analyze, after all. Why did I suddenly just not want to put in the effort?

Considering What Matters

Then, one morning, as I was folding towels, and I noticed that I no longer care whether the tags are on the inside or the outside of the fold, that maybe something else was going on. Maybe, just maybe I was beginning to practice what I've been preaching. 

Does it really matter where the tags are on the folded towels? Does anyone (besides me) really care? They get unfolded so they can be used, and I'm sure the cabinet shelves really have no interest in where the tags are located.  

In that moment, I realized that what I’ve really been doing is embracing the concept of "good enough," something I've been talking to my college freshmen about for more than a decade. In some of the low-stakes areas of my life, I've rejected maximizing (making sure all the towels are folded with the tags inside) for satisficing (making sure all the towels are folded).  

This is something worth considering when it comes to organizing. We can spend hours upon hours perfecting our systems and making sure everything looks beautiful, but does that really improve our end result? Often, these pursuits become a distraction that makes us lose sight of the most basic, yet essential aspect of organizing. 

Organizing Is About Function

Organizing is about function. Finding what we need when we need it. Making it as easy to put something away as it is to put it down. We don’t need perfect systems or decorator-quality containers to make this happen and often, we’re happier when we create systems that require less of our time, money, and energy so those resources can be spent on more important (and dare I say fun?) pursuits. 

We need to de-stigmatize the phrase “good enough,” moving it from cop-out to coping skill. When we pair our styles with “good enough” solutions — the ones that simply work without overcomplicating things — we often come up with systems that not only meet our needs in the moment but are sustainable as well. And, if the good enough solution works — that is, it’s within our means, easy to stick with, and a good fit for our styles — that sounds like a win to me.

If you want to make things pretty in the process, I hear you — go for it! Just keep in mind that, when it comes to organizing, how things look should be secondary to how they work. If that pretty container isn’t the right fit (literally and/or figuratively) for the situation and your styles, is it solving a problem, or creating a new one?

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Copyright 2026 Lisa Hess
Images: Canva