Where you land in life usually comes down to three broad things:

• Luck

• Talent

• Effort

Luck

Some people might cringe at “luck” being mentioned as a controlling variable in our lives. Aren’t we supposed to be all about controlling our destiny and shaping our future? How dare we try to find an escape in the dark corners of lady luck!

The reality is that we all take various bets in our lives (deciding between two job offers, buying a house, investing in a stock, etc.). Sometimes these pay off (joining Google in 1999) and sometimes they don’t (hello, Theranos!). Socio-economic factors are also a form of luck. Being born into an affluent family with a strong academic culture versus being born into a poor family where survival is the only priority can tilt the odds for or against you.

So, it is important for us to be humble and recognize that luck will always play a role. It is also what keeps life random and interesting.

Talent and Skills

I have played casual cricket in the past, and I play casual pickleball nowadays. I have gotten better in pickleball over time, but I can never beat some players who seem to just invent shots mid-air. I have a sense of humor, but I can never be as spontaneous as a stand-up comedian.

I could practice hard and get some improvement in my performance, but most probably not enough to be able to compete professionally.

Effort

Effort is the one variable in our control. How much does effort make a difference? Is effort enough to overcome weak talent and less-than-ideal luck?

Well, if you’re lucky!

The honest answer is - “we don’t know”. Since we don’t know, some of us assume the answer is unequivocally yes, while others resign themselves to a lack of talent and luck. Then there are those who vacillate between the two depending on where they are in their lives.

Effort shapes our lives, and positive outcomes aligned with effort feed enthusiasm and hope, while negative outcomes shake our belief.

So what is a “good enough life”?

It’s not a life where everything lines up perfectly. It’s a life where:

• You stay humble about luck

• You make peace with your natural limits

• You keep showing up with effort anyway

Not because it guarantees results but because it gives you a shot.

And that’s good enough!

One of my clients asked me this recently - What is the simple formula for a good enough life? That made my analytical brain realize that we all need simple frameworks to operationalize concepts. So, here you go:

1. Enough money to pay the bills

Security is non-negotiable. When the basics like housing, food, healthcare are covered, your nervous system calms down. You stop living in survival mode. Beyond that, every extra dollar has diminishing emotional returns. Money buys comfort but cannot buy contentment. Once the essentials are stable, focus should shift to thinking about better experiences.

2. Stress-free fun

You need deliberate joy that carries no performance or outcome. Laughter, music, play, movement, absurdity are things that reset the brain and loosens the grip of “what next.”

Does a friendly game of pickleball count? Sure, it does. You may still compete to win the game and keep score but you are stress-free since even a loss is as exhilarating as a win.

3. Some discretionary income

This is what turns existence into living. You need “optionality” i.e. the ability to say yes to dinner with friends, a trip, a course, or a spontaneous indulgence without guilt. Discretionary money is less about luxury and more about freedom of choice. It reminds you you’re intentionally steering your own life.

Some people may not even need this layer. Their sense of freedom comes from simplicity, not spending.

4. Meaningful challenges

Without something to stretch against, life goes flat. “Meaningful” doesn’t mean easy or profitable. It means you care about it, and it forces growth and the challenge keeps your inner engine tuned. Too much comfort breeds apathy; moderate friction keeps you alive.

Challenges can lead to meaning through impact (serving a cause), mastery (learning a new skill), connection (new or renewed relationships), and creation (building something). Take your pick!

Put together

A Good Enough Life - Bills paid (for stability) + Stress-free fun (for renewal) + Discretionary cushion (for freedom) + Meaningful challenge (for purpose)

Just enough to live intentionally and lightly so that life stops being a chase and starts being an experience.

Some people have a rags-to-riches story.
Some have a riches-to-riches story.
Some have a riches-to-rags story.
And some… just have a rags-to-rags story.

Why? We don’t know for sure.

But what we do know is that each of us is living a story that unfolds every single day — in traffic jams, at office meetings, over missed appointments, and through late-night

“what am I doing with my life” moments.

In our own story, we’re the lead character — battling inbox overflow, trying to eat healthy while stress-eating chips, coping with missed promotions, and celebrating victories like the “Congratulations” text from the recruiter that you thought would never arrive.

And while we’re playing our part, we’re constantly watching other lead characters. The neighbor who just bought a Tesla. The friend who just posted their “dream job” announcement. The colleague who somehow has time for morning runs, homemade lunches and an accelerated career.

Their stories look better scripted. So, we try to rewrite ours. We change jobs, cities, relationships, or even professions — hoping to step into their movie. Fear, social media and self-judgment act as a catalyst for this change.

But that’s not what happens. We don’t end up in their story. We end up in a brand-new one — one that’s partly theirs, partly ours, and completely unpredictable. There’s a tension between the need for growth and the need for being ourselves.

Research suggests that what matters most for happiness isn’t how our story compares to others, but whether we see meaning and growth in the chapters we’ve lived. People who see their story as evolving report higher well-being. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

That means even the slow chapters, the confusing ones, the stagnant ones — still count. They’re part of the story too. Growth doesn’t always look like a plot twist; sometimes it’s just turning the page and showing up again tomorrow.

So maybe it’s okay if your story doesn’t sound like a blockbuster.
It’s enough that it’s YOURS - meaningful, and still unfolding every second.

It’s Good Enough!

Say you run into your college mate.

“What do you do?”, you ask.

“Oh, I’ve been at Moonshot Inc. since 2021”.

Yes, that company. The one whose stock shot up like no one would believe.

He’s of course done very well. Windfall well.

And for a minute, you might feel jealousy or regret. You might also feel the urge to find any negative news you can about his company - just so that you can feel better.

This is the default perspective that most human beings operate from. Social media, news, bar conversations - all push this narrative of achievement.

But what if this is just one of the many perspectives? What if each perspective is on a floor and you can choose which floor you want to be on?

This default floor is the Achievement floor - where everything is measured in salary bumps, stock options, titles, and fancy cars. On this floor, your college mate’s story may feel like a missed train that you should’ve sprinted for.

You can decide to walk up to the Existential floor. Here, you could argue that no one knows the true purpose of life and everyone lives a short span, enacts their story and then dies. So, your friend’s story is just that- a story and yours is just that, another story. So is for the other 8 billion people. Just a story. Not better or worse.

Or you could shift to the Gratitude floor where you could say, “I’m lucky to have enough. To be here. To be healthy. To have a job that pays the bills. This is Good Enough”

A couple of levels down in the Curiosity floor, your college mate’s story becomes interesting, not threatening. What did he learn? How did he go about it? What would I want to learn from his experience?

You could also take the elevator to the Compassion floor where you don’t argue with any of your thoughts. You just empathize with the feeling and say, “It is what it is. I don’t feel great about it right now but I’ll give it time.”

Finally, there is a secret floor in the basement called the “So What?” floor. In this floor, all you do is ask “So what?” to any thoughts and do that repeatedly till the negative thought loses energy. On this floor, you finally realize, it’s not really a big deal.

So, next time something stings - someone else's success, a rejection, a comparison, ask: What floor am I on right now? What floor do I want to go to?

A different perspective might just be a few flights of stairs away!

Exercise: Look at the visual again. Which floor do you end up on when you miss your flight and which floor would you like to be on?

You ever have one of those days where your to-do list reads like an endless pit of things you “have to do”?

1. Pick up groceries.

2. Respond to emails.

3. Pay the bills.

4. Complete sales report.

Meanwhile, joy feels like a luxury item - something you might get to. After meetings. After laundry. After you get a break from your to-do list.

No wonder motivation is hard to come by.

It could seem that you’re fulfilling some obligation to meet another obligation which in turn fulfills yet another one. Obligations are stacked and amidst all of them, your own happiness maybe an afterthought or just missing!

But you could reframe this. Put your activities in two buckets:

1. Things that add to your happiness, and

2. Things that protect that happiness.

Things that add to happiness are the good stuff:

• A walk in the park.

• An inside joke with a friend.

• Learning something new.

• Watching a fun movie.

• Feeling grateful for your life.

Now, make sure you allocate time to experience these. Make them as non-negotiable as you can.

But you cannot be doing these all day, can you?

There seem to be a myriad of things on your plate. You will need to take care of these to protect the happiness you get from the first list. For example, let’s say that you have a slide deck due by end of day and instead of working, you decide to just watch a movie. The quality of your movie-watching experience will be clouded by the nagging feeling of the impending deadline. So, working on that presentation is not just another thing “you have to do”. You now do it with the intention of protecting the quality of your movie watching experience i.e. protecting the quality of your happiness.

There are other examples of Protecting happiness that we find in our every day life:

• Paying the bills.

• Filing taxes.

• Showing up to work.

• Dropping off and picking up kids from soccer games

  …and the list goes on.

It’s easy to feel weighed down by the second list and also not find it joyful. But try reframing them as important to keep the roof from collapsing on your joy.

So the next time you’re unmotivated, maybe don’t ask, “Why do I have to do this?” Ask instead, “What happiness am I protecting by doing this?”

That shift might just be enough.

I watched the French Open men’s final today between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.. Five and a half hours. Five sets. Three saved match points. A fifth-set tiebreak.

It was thrilling but not just because of the comeback. It was everything else around it that made it beautiful. Messy. Flawed. Tense. And totally “good enough”.

Alcaraz hit several double faults and Sinner made many unforced errors. Neither player played perfect tennis. But they played fully. And that was good enough.

Sinner played world-class tennis. And he lost. In a world of headlines and trophies, that might seem like failure. But years from now, when he looks back on this match, just being in a Grand Slam final would seem “good enough”.

You don’t need to be flawless, just present.

I didn’t need to be on court. I didn’t need to be an expert. I just needed to sit back, feel the tension, and cheer. Being a fan was good enough.

I could’ve done chores during that time. I could have cheered one player and felt the exhilaration or the disappointment of the outcome. But instead, I just watched a wonderful display of athleticism and finesse. And that was good enough.

Here’s a short list of where “good enough” showed up and saved time, energy, or brain cells:

• Picked a video editor for my content creation. Didn’t test every single feature. Just chose one that is good enough for the job.

• Bought shoes for my pickleball game. Not the “perfect” ones. My feet haven’t complained.

• Thought about my pickleball games on my drive back home from the game. I wasn’t the best. Was it fun? Yes. So, it was good enough. Moved on.

• Chose a restaurant for a family birthday lunch that was good enough. Everyone left full and smiling. That’ll do.

• Used white sugar instead of brown sugar. Worked and did the job.

• Hit unexpected weekend traffic. Took a breath. Played music. Let it be. Reached a bit late but was good enough.

• Vibe coded a game. Launched it. Didn’t wait till it was shiny. Just… shipped.

Not everything needs to be great.
Good enough works just fine.

What were your “good enough” wins this week?
Hit reply or leave a comment—I’d love to hear a few.

I started playing pickleball recently. I’m not very good at it but I have fun.

Then, I came across something that made me pause: a rating system. Players are scored on a scale of 1.0 to 5.5. Suddenly, my chill weekend activity had the potential to become measurable and competitive

Pickleball was recreation for me. I wasn’t looking to move up a ladder. Recreation was “good enough.”

But over the next few days, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I started reading up on ratings. I chatted with my pickleball buddies about it. And one Sunday morning, I bit the bullet. I signed up thus joining the millions of players chasing that elusive number.

So what changed? Why did I sign up, if "recreation" was already good enough?

I realized something: I had never defined “good enough for what?”

Maybe I wanted the thrill of competition.
Maybe I wanted access to skill-based matches.
Maybe I just wanted to feel like I belonged in a group that was leveling up.

The truth is, my “good enough” was a moving target because I hadn’t clearly defined the outcome I was aiming for.

Ever find yourself caught in a whirlwind of “Is this good enough?”

Good enough job.
Good enough school.
Good enough marriage.
Good enough vacation (with just enough beach and Wi-Fi).

If your brain’s stuck in the tryouts of life - always comparing, always measuring then this simple model might help.

It’s not about lowering standards. It’s about living freely.

The “Good Enough” Formula

Here it is, in one line: ABC is good enough so that you can do XYZ in order to feel LMN.

Let’s unpack that.

• ABC = the current thing you're evaluating (college, job, partner, house, city…)

• XYZ = the outcome or action it enables (earn enough, spend time with family, have creative freedom…)

• LMN = the emotion or mental state you truly want (peace, joy, security, freedom, meaning)

A Few Real-Life Examples

1. “This college is good enough for my child to earn enough to be happy.”
   (ABC = college, XYZ = earn enough, LMN = happy)

2. “This job is good enough for me to pay my bills so I can enjoy coaching my daughter’s soccer team and feel a sense of giving back.”

3. “This apartment is good enough so I can avoid a long commute and have more time to write.”

It connects your choice (what is) to your why and then to your well-being.

Satisficing: The Science of “Good Enough”

Herbert Simon, Nobel Prize winner, introduced the concept of “satisficing” i.e. choosing an option that’s good enough rather than the best possible.

Satisficers tend to have:

• Lower levels of anxiety

• More happiness and life satisfaction

• Better decision outcomes (because they make a decision!)

Satisficing isn’t slacking. It’s being strategic about drawing boundaries.

Your Own “Good Enough” Sentence

Take a decision you're wrestling with, and try this:

“______ is good enough so that I can ______ in order to feel ______.”

“Having some pickleball rating is good enough so that I can play more games with appropriate skill levels in order to feel the joy of the game”

Closing Thoughts

“Good enough” is never just about the thing. It’s about what that thing makes possible and whether that possibility aligns with your deepest values.

So next time your mind says, “But what if there’s something better?”
Try asking instead - “Is this good enough for the life I want to live?”

Chances are, it is. And interestingly, that’s maybe more than enough!

If this post brought you clarity, share it with someone stuck in decision purgatory. And if you want to get more tools like this for a life that’s not perfect, but good enough, subscribe to the newsletter.

This is why someone making $50K a year but surrounded by friends earning $40K may feel happier than someone making $300K among peers earning $500K. Our minds are wired to compare.

But what if we stopped measuring happiness by comparison? What if, instead of chasing "more", we focused on "enough"?

A Good Enough Life isn’t about settling—it’s about recognizing what truly matters to you, not what looks good on paper or in someone else’s life.

So on World Happiness Day, ask yourself:
Are you happy because you have enough—or because you have more than others? Are you unhappy because you don’t have enough—or because you don’t have as much as others?

Shifting from relative happiness (comparison) to absolute happiness (contentment) could be a powerful upgrade to your well-being.

What’s the one absolute happiness that you already enjoy?

Life often feels like an emotional rollercoaster. One day, we’re celebrating a win, feeling unstoppable. The next, a minor setback makes us feel like we’ve failed. We chase highs that don’t last and let small disappointments drag us down.

One of the keys to living a good enough life is about recognizing our emotional thresholds.

The diagram above highlights a simple yet powerful idea:

• If you raise your bar for feeling low, everyday frustrations won’t pull you down so easily.

• If you lower your bar for feeling high, you’ll find joy and fulfillment in more ordinary moments.

The result? You spend most of your time in a stable, good enough life.

Psychologists refer to this as emotional set points—your baseline level of happiness or distress. Research suggests that although extreme positive or negative events temporarily change these levels (e.g., an accident or winning the lottery), humans naturally return to these baseline levels.

Raise Your Bar for Feeling Low

If you get frustrated by every minor inconvenience—traffic, an annoying email, a slow internet connection—you’ve set your low threshold too low.

How to fix it?

• Practice perspective-taking—will this matter in a week? A month?

• Use cognitive reframing—is this really a problem, or just a discomfort?

• Build mental resilience—acknowledge discomfort without overreacting.

The goal isn’t to ignore problems but to ensure only truly significant issues impact your emotional state.

Lower Your Bar for Feeling High

Many of us reserve happiness for big achievements—a promotion, a new house, a major milestone. The problem? Those moments are rare. If your bar for joy is set too high, you’ll spend most of your time feeling like life isn’t enough.

How to fix it?

• Celebrate small wins—finishing a task, a good cup of coffee, a kind word.

• Enjoy gratitude — Be thankful daily for what you have - no matter how trivial they may seem.

• Find joy in everyday things — Enjoy things that are around you for free - sitting on your sofa and watching the trees outside, a walk in the park. A TikTok video that brought smile to your face.

Lowering the threshold for joy doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means allowing yourself to experience happiness more frequently in everyday things.

By adjusting both bars, you create an zone where:
→ You aren’t crushed by minor setbacks.
→ You don’t need huge accomplishments to feel good.
→ You live with steady, sustainable well-being.

Where Are Your Bars Set?

If life feels like a constant emotional rollercoaster, take a moment to reflect:
👉 Is your low threshold too easy to trigger?
👉 Is your high threshold keeping you from feeling fulfilled?

By making small shifts, you can spend most of your time in a balanced, content, and fulfilling life.

I created this newsletter because I've experienced and witnessed the pursuit of perfection robbing people of present joy in exchange for a future ideal that may not arrive.

The Perfection Trap

We live in a world obsessed with the best—the best career, the best decisions, the best version of ourselves. From school to work, relationships, and even hobbies, the message is clear: keep pushing, keep optimizing, keep striving for perfection.

On social media, we're bombarded with highlight reels of perfect lives. In bookstores, bestsellers promise to help us maximize productivity and optimize our habits. Even self-care is overwhelmed with the perfect meditation practice, the perfect morning routine, the perfect work-life balance.

This narrative can be exhausting and often harmful.

The Cost of "Perfect"

Here are some ways this relentless pursuit of perfection costs us:

• Mental wellness: Anxiety, burnout, and frustration finds they way in when we constantly measure ourselves against moving reference points.

• Time: Hours, days, years spent finding something perfect while it didn’t really matter at the end (20 minutes to choose a bread to buy?)

• Joy: We fail to appreciate what we have while we're striving for what could be

But here’s the problem: even the best eventually falls short. The bar keeps moving, expectations rise this constant chase fuels stress, self-doubt, and an exhausting cycle of never quite arriving.

Yet, along the way, we overlook good enough solutions—ones that serve us well enough to move forward, find joy, and actually live our lives.

What "Good Enough" Really Means

"Good enough" isn't about settling for mediocrity or giving up on growth. It's about making intentional choices about where to allocate your limited time and energy because any additional effort may no longer justify the costs.

Think about the last time you spent hours researching the "perfect" option – maybe it was a phone, a vacation destination, or even a recipe for dinner. You dedicated significant time and mental energy to finding the absolute best choice.

But along that journey were dozens of "good enough" options – choices that would have met your needs, brought you satisfaction, and saved you the stress of continued searching.

What if we started noticing and appreciating those good enough moments instead? The almost-right career move that still brought growth. The slightly messy, unpolished attempt that got the job done.

That’s what this newsletter is about. agoodenough.life is here to highlight those moments in everyday life—through stories, insights, and research—to remind us that “good enough” is often more than enough.

What This Newsletter Offers

agoodenough.life is dedicated to highlighting those "good enough" moments in our everyday lives through:

• Stories: Real-world examples of people finding peace and success in embracing "good enough"

• Insights: Practical wisdom for recognizing when "good enough" is actually optimal

• Research: Evidence from psychology, behavioral science, and other fields showing the benefits of letting go of perfectionism

• Practices: Simple exercises to help you identify and embrace "good enough" in various aspects of your life

Join Me on This Journey

At a “good enough” cadence, I'll share new perspectives, practical tools, and thought-provoking ideas to help you appreciate the "good enough" moments in your life.

Because sometimes, "good enough" isn't just good enough. Sometimes, it's exactly what we need.

Sanil

p.s. I published this newsletter as soon as I realized it was “good enough”

A Moment of Reflection

Before you get busy with your day, take 30 seconds to consider: Where in your life might you be over-optimizing right now? Is there one area where "good enough" could actually serve you better than "perfect"?

Notice what comes to mind without judgment. We'll explore strategies for addressing these areas in future newsletters.