Lessons Learned #18 – Do the half-right thing

May 4, 2009

In last Wednesday’s post I mentioned there are a number of lessons I’m taking away from the recent weirdness. It was too much for one entry, but I think the leftovers are pretty tasty, so I’m sharing them in follow-up.

Here’s another.

I hate not knowing what to do.

No, what I really hate is feeling I’ve made a mistake and not knowing how to fix it. (Let alone admitting that to anyone.)

This is how the doubt and paralysis got started. It is a pattern that is easily triggered. I’m working on it. Things are much better than they used to be, but I still haven’t passed Perfectionism Recovery 401.

* * * * *

I’m not a huge fan of astrology, but I am a fan of Rob Brezsny for no other reason than I like his writing and his weekly email cheers my inbox and, well, sometimes his horoscopes are freakishly spot on.

Like this part of what he had to say to we Scorpios at the end of March:

Negotiate partial solutions to complex problems. In other words, do the half-right thing when it’s impossible to do the totally right thing.”

I love this. It’s my new MO.

* * * * *

PS. This is how ridiculous the doubt can get when allowed to spread and why I need a new MO to help me nip it in the bud.

Our dog had surgery about two weeks ago. Routine removal of benign lipomas. Though he was feeling no pain when we brought him home, he was out of his mind.

Our only job (besides calming him down and keeping him comfortable) was to make sure he didn’t pull out the drains. We (stupidly) refused the cone-collar thingy thinking it would add to his crazy.

And – you guessed it – he pulled out his drains. And ate them.

I later learned that this is not uncommon and pretty harmless. He wasn’t the first dog to do this and won’t be the last. He’s fine. Two weeks later you wouldn’t know anything happened to him except for the shaved spots (they ought to make canine rogaine for these situations).

But at the time I truly saw it as proof that I was a complete screw up as a human being who couldn’t do anything right and my dog was going to die a horrible death because of it.

At least I can laugh about it now.

Related posts:

  1. Lessons Learned
  2. Lessons Learned-Day 1
  3. Lessons Learned-Day 2
  4. Lessons Learned-Day 3
  5. Lessons Learned #10 – Overstating the Problem

Organized under Uncategorized.

4 responses


  1. 1109 days ago,
    Christine Martell said:

    My cat pulled her staples out after surgery for eating thread even with the collar on—- you’re still a good dogMom! They are really clever with these things…..

    I’m working on about quarter right things for the last bit. Must be for Virgos too.


  2. 1109 days ago,
    Cairene said:

    @Christine
    Ok, that makes me feel better about the collar choice.
    And quarter-right things? Love it! Even more doable.


  3. 1094 days ago,
    It’s not all or nothing. « How THW Gets In Gear said:

    [...] It’s not all or nothing. Published May 19, 2009 Mindset , Workflow 0 Comments A couple weeks ago, I mentioned how much I liked the brilliant advice of “do the half right thing.” [...]


  4. 1077 days ago,
    A round-up of the week’s lessons learned. « How THW Gets In Gear said:

    [...] I realized that this was the same as that. Adopting a new MO is all well and good, but it’s going to take a lot more practice to shift [...]