Why bother striving for the best? Why not just settle for ‘good enough’?

For me, ‘good enough’ is rarely satisfying. If I’m already putting in effort, why not push to make something great? This applies to everything—from cooking to coffee, from cocktails to finance. I find that seeking the best possible result makes the process itself more rewarding. Settling for ‘good enough’ feels like stopping at the first sign of success.

Cooking is a perfect example. The fun isn’t just in making food; it’s in the transformation—taking simple ingredients and turning them into something extraordinary. If I’m already spending time making something, why not make it exceptional? Just making food videos, for example, can feel a bit like saying, “Hey, look at this thing, isn’t it tasty?” But what’s more interesting is exploring why certain things work, why they matter, and how they can be made even better. That’s what I will try and focus on in my food videos from now on.

Espresso, Bread and Cocktails.

I’m working on getting in to brewing espresso. Why do I want to make espresso? Because it’s an untapped part of my home coffee obsession. The deeper question is: What am I trying to achieve? Understanding how small changes in brewing affect taste is endlessly fascinating. With the ROK espresso machine, I love that I can get high-quality espresso without spending hundreds on a machine. There’s a particular satisfaction in finding solutions that don’t rely on throwing money at the problem.

I bake bread because supermarket bread is terrible and great bread is expensive. If I’m going to the trouble of making it, why not make it amazing? The same applies to sandwiches—if I’ve already made great bread, why not make the best sandwich possible? It’s about maximizing effort and creating something truly worth enjoying.

Delicious cocktails are rare. To get them, you usually have to go to high-end bars where the experience doesn’t always align with what I actually want. Making my own means I can experiment and innovate. A great gin and tonic, for example, isn’t just about making a drink—it’s about refining, tweaking, and pushing the limits of what’s possible.

The reality is that ‘good enough’ is only acceptable when there are no better options. When something truly can’t be improved, then good enough is the last resort. But in most cases, I don’t want to settle—I want to understand, optimize, and refine. Anything that isn’t good enough, by definition, doesn’t happen.

If you’re already putting in effort, why not strive for the best?