Know When Good Enough Is Good Enough

• April 30, 2018

“To avoid ‘good enough’ from being supplanted by sorrow. Know where ‘good enough’ resides, in relationship to despair.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“I hit the mark!” “No, you didn’t hit the mark!” “Well, we won! So, I hit enough of it and that was good enough!”

That was a snippet of a conversation held between two associates. In essence, they were discussing to what degree they’d accomplished their goal, versus if they accomplished enough of it to consider the outcome a win.

In everyday life, our mind is bombarded with hordes of information; a lot of that is sheltered from our state of consciousness to protect us from information overload. One way to be more productive, while also maintaining a more even-keeled life, is to know when good enough is good enough.

When it comes to outcomes sought, we must always be mindful of the law of diminishing returns. That law states, at some point the degree of effort you put into maximizing the acquisition of a goal or opportunity, that effort becomes diminished per the time and resources you put forth to do so. Thus, in order to maximize the time and effort you put into achieving a goal or opportunity, you should set parameters that indicate your proximity to a point of diminishing return. To do otherwise could mean that you lose a degree of productivity, along with a mental, more peaceful state of mind. The latter will lead to more stress in your life, which could lead you into a vicious downward spiraling stream.

What does this have to do with negotiations? 

To win more negotiations, you have to know when ‘good enough’ is good enough. Don’t become overly transfixed on squeezing every little bit of gain out of a negotiation. Doing that could lead to the forfeit of some of the gains you’ve achieved.

As in everyday life, in a negotiation, set parameters that indicate when you’ve reached a ‘good enough’ point. In a negotiation that indicator can be enacted by bracketing your expected outcome (e.g. high point, mid-point, low point).

If you find yourself transitioning from the mid-point of your expected outcome into the high point, that’s the time to become more aware of what’s occurring in the negotiation (i.e. noting the demeanor of the other negotiator and the temperature of the negotiation). Taking those factors into consideration when assessing to what degree you should move forward will allow you to make such a judgment without the evaluation process that might otherwise be required.

If you use these thoughts to capture the essence of the outcome you seek to achieve in your negotiations, you’ll keep more of the gains you acquire … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember you’re always negotiating! 

What are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free 5-minute video on reading body language or to sign up for the “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

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