Lisa Barry “Am I Good Enough”

Am I good enough?  It’s a question that pops in my head constantly about being a radio DJ.  It also manifests itself as statements.  I’m not good enough, I am good enough, I thought I was good enough, hopefully they think I’m good enough.  I’m so good enough.

It’s like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.  I try to beat down the bad ones but honestly, I can’t keep up, they’re changing so fast. 

Finally, one day, I sat myself down and said,  let’s figure this out once and for all!  Here’s what I came up with.  I might be good enough and I might not.  (pause)  Not so profound, right?   Wait a second and bear with me.   

Here’s where I found peace.  All I can do is the best I can do.  You may want to memorize that line; it comes in handy.  I can’t do more than that.  I can’t do what other radio talents do, I can only do MY best and if that isn’t enough, someone else will decide that for me.   Ouch!  Too harsh?  No, not really.  Hopefully, it takes the pressure off because in all honesty, thinking that you and I can guess our talent value is futile.  Some will love us, others, not as much.  And that’s OK!

Instead of trying to take our talent temperature, let’s just give our very best every single day.  No mail-in breaks, no that was/this, just solid show prep, mining our personal lives for content, asking for God’s direction and deciding how to best deliver what we’ve found.  

All you and I can ever do, is our best.  Rest there.  If you’ve done your best, then you’ve done all God asks you to do.   More than likely it’s enough.  But even if it isn’t, you can walk away saying, at least I did my best, which again, is all you can do!  Can you feel the weight lifting already?  

Now, by way of contrast, what if you’re only doing ‘enough’.   Not your best, but good-enough.  We all have moments like that when we’re tracking for a holiday or trying to finish weekend tracking.  I get it.  Problem is, good-enough is addicting.  I’ve learned this by personal experience.  And little by little good-enough becomes OK because over time, TIME becomes the goal and not quality.  I recently heard radio DJs comparing how long it takes them to track a full show.  It was as if the prize goes to the fastest.   

Let me end with this.  All God expects of you is the best you can do.  And even if your best isn’t enough for a radio station, it’s enough for God and he credits you with all that effort.  Isn’t that amazing?!  You’re working for two; your boss and your ultimate boss.  So your best is enough because it’s all you can offer and it’s a fragrant offering.   But if you and I choose ‘good enough’, then we put ourselves at risk twice.  The risk that our bosses will notice and will tell us it’s not good enough and the risk that it won’t be a very meaningful gift to God either.  Good enough is only a gift to me, because I’m saying my time is the most important thing.  

You and I are good-enough when we give our best work and let’s make a pact with each other to never settle for good-enough.  

Lisa is the afternoon radio host on the XFM Radio Network, middays at KTIS Minneapolis/St. Paul and middays at Spirit 1059 in Austin, TX.   She left the upper Midwest in 2018 in search of a free-lance life free from snowstorms and now lives in Naples, Florida.   She is married to Ken and they have 3 adult daughters.  She can be contacted at Lisa@lisabarrymedia.com