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August 8th

START WITH WHERE THE WORLD IS

“Do now what nature demands of you. Get right to it if that’s in

your power. Don’t look around to see if people will know about it.

Don’t await the perfection of Plato’s Republic, but be satisfied

with even the smallest step forward and regard the outcome as a

small thing.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.29.(4)

ave you ever heard the expression “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of
good enough”? The idea is not to settle or compromise your standards,
but rather not to become trapped by idealism.
The community organizer Saul Alinsky opens his book Rules for
Radicals with a pragmatic but inspiring articulation of that idea:

“As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I

would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in

any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it

should be—it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are

going to change it to what we think it should be.”

There is plenty that you could do right now, today, that would make the
world a better place. There are plenty of small steps that, were you to take
them, would help move things forward. Don’t excuse yourself from doing
them because the conditions aren’t right or because a better opportunity
might come along soon. Do what you can, now. And when you’ve done it,
keep it in perspective, don’t overblow the results. Shun both ego and
excuse, before and after.