Jessica Pettitt - Good Enough Now: How Doing the Best We Can With What We Have is Better Than Nothing

Copyright 2017Jessica Kathryn Pettitt. All rights reserved.

This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. For permissions requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

SOUND WISDOM

P.O. Box 310

Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310

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While efforts have been made to verify information contained in this publication, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

While this publication is chock-full of useful, practical information, it is not intended to be legal or accounting advice. All readers are advised to seek competent lawyers and accountants to follow laws and regulations that may apply to specific situations.

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ISBN 13 TP: 978-1-937879-84-6

ISBN 13 eBook: 978-1-937879-85-3

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.

Cover/Jacket designer: Eileen Rockwell

Interior designer: Terry Clifton

Graphic design by Lush Newton

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pettitt, Jessica, author.

Title: Good enough now : how doing the best we can with what we have is better than nothing / Jessica Pettitt.

Description: Shippensburg, PA : Sound Wisdom, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017005196 | ISBN 9781937879846 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Self-actualization (Psychology) | Self. | Interpersonal relations. | Teams in the workplace. | BISAC: SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Success. | SELF-HELP / Motivational & Inspirational.

Classification: LCC BF637.S4 P4484 2017 | DDC 158.1--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005196

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The role of the artist is exactly the

same as the role of the lover. If I love

you, I have to make you conscious

of the things you dont see.

JAMES BALDWIN

This book is dedicated to every teacher, instructor, and trainer out there who is trying and showing up as a parent, mentor, and educator to validate and witness those who dont have the strength to do it themselves.

Thank you, Dr. Jennings, for leading the way.

One of my heroes is the tragically unknown and under-appreciated Bayard Rustin, and one of my favorite things that he said was that, We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers. Jessica Pettitt is one such angelic troublemaker, and she has written a book which will help you become one as well.

I have been involved in diversity and inclusion work for over a decade now and there is still, in 2017, a very strong tendency for people to see this work as a sort of intellectual endeavor; the idea that being inclusive is simply a matter of being one of those that gets it. This is how we continue to have organizations, institutions, industries, and communities that take great pride in, and make great noise about, their wonderfully inclusive intentions, yet are not actually inclusive. Talking the talk rather than walking the walk. And lets be honest, the talking is a lot easier. We write poetic declarations of commitment to diversity and inclusion, post them on our websites, addend them to our annual reports and give ourselves humanitarian awards. We too easily and too frequently convince ourselves that if we are just good people with good intentions that inclusion is the automatic result.

Inclusion is no more an intellectual endeavor than fitness is. While a good many of us have tried to think, talk and intend our way to fitness, the reality remains that it requires getting out of bed and going to the gym. It requires effort, action, and a bit of discomfort.

While getting it is certainly a part of the journey, there is no inclusion without doing it and that is what this book is about. Inclusion is inherently activist, and if you are ready to act you are looking in the right place.

As people go, Jessica Pettitt is one of the better ones I have come across. Her intentions are the best. Yet, as you will read in the pages ahead, she has made mistakes. Good intentions notwithstanding, she has not known what to do at times. She has, at times, not understood people, things and situations.

In this book, Jessica has courageously harvested loads of valuable stuff from the experiences of those around her, from the people she has reached through her work, from the insights and experiences of others, but especially from her own life. Which is a big part of what makes this such an accessible, honest, and actionable message.

Often when we consider big, complex issues such as diversity, inclusion, equality, and justice we assume that our actions must be big and complex as well; marches, protests, social movements, and policy initiatives come to mind. These kinds of efforts have proven integral to progress in this country and others and will likely always have their place, but they can cast a great shadow over the smaller things of equal importance like the party-of-one work that Jessica speaks of in the pages ahead.

A long, long time ago I served in the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman. We learned in bootcamp that one of our most important skills was land navigation; the ability to figure out where you are, where you are going, and to get there, regardless of terrain, weather, etc. I traveled a great deal during my time as a Marine and had the opportunity to navigate in just about every type of terrain imaginable, and even ended up teaching land navigation for about 6 months in Okinawa, Japan. I came to consider my compass (which I still have) one of my most important tools and took great pride in my ability to use it with great efficiency and accuracy.

You hold in your hands a compass. Use it. The stakes are high. Be good to each other. And stop for the tater-tots.

Joe Gerstandt

http://www.joegerstandt.com/

The Value of Difference

We make excuses when we focus on what we cannot control instead of focusing on what we can control. Good Enough Now is going to help us change our focus.

This book excites me. It excites me because I know that it will help me and others be able to look at ourselves, learn about ourselves and position us to do things that we may never have thought possible. We will be able to have better conversations with others, determine responsibilities to take on, be more accountable to ourselves and others, and ultimately discover that our best self already exists and is ready to press into action. Ultimately, we will eliminate the excuses we give when talking about why our relationships arent as good as they could be, why we dont achieve what we think we should, and why our conversations dont go as deep as we would like.