I’ve been thinking about “good enough” lately. Watching my social media feeds overflow with conference highlights, thought leadership posts, and endless “must-read” articles about ex-whatever building the next big thing can feel suffocating, can’t it? I don’t know about you, but I’m a chronic over-achiever, and often, I feel like I’m falling behind and not hustling toward that next big milestone or quoting the latest tech visionary.
I hate that feeling. “Tech” is a big industry. Not everyone wants to work at brand name companies, dreams of building the next unicorn, or lead a product to a billion-dollar valuation. And you know what? It’s perfectly fine. For many of us, visionary is not the goal. The goal is to work with smart people and make meaningful changes.
Before my tech career, I built an improv theater for the fringe, those looking for an alternative, not striving to become famous. You know what? That place thrived because there are many more of us than there are of them. The ones who wanted to create, connect, and perform without needing to be the next big thing.
Tech culture is weird. It’s full of incredible opportunities, endless things to learn, and the ability to tinker and build almost anything you can imagine. But it’s also toxic as hell, with its relentless pressure to be exceptional, its worship of unicorns, and its endless parade of thought leaders telling you how to think, work, and succeed.
I find myself constantly bouncing between two states: eagerly absorbing knowledge from all those “must-read/watch/hear/learn” spaces (because, yes, there are always valuable nuggets there) and then feeling anxious because I’m not building the next revolutionary product or leading my team to some eye-popping ARR number.
When anxiety hits, I have to step back and reset. I have to remember what I actually like about this work, that it’s okay to be good enough, and that success doesn’t always look like a TechCrunch headline.
I guess what I’m saying to those who feel this way is you’re not alone. There’s value in putting your head down and doing good work. There’s dignity in solving real problems for real users, even if those solutions never reach a conference stage. There’s worth in being the person who shows up, does the job well, and then goes home to live their life.
I’ve accidentally found my way to product management and somehow stuck around long enough to build some skills, know some things, and be good enough. Not exceptional. Not revolutionary. Just good enough. And you know what? That’s more than enough.
This is for all of us in the middle. The ones who love to tinker and build but don’t seek fame and glory. The ones who find satisfaction in solving problems and helping users, even if nobody outside our team knows our names. Here’s to being good enough and defining success not by recognition but by our quiet impact.