The name “Squint Right” comes from a collection of sayings that my Dad had that basically meant “It’ll do.”

• Good enough for government work
• Looks good if you squint just right
• Good enough for the girls I go with
• It ain’t straight, but the cows don’t care

I thought about my approach to this new hobby and decided that I wasn’t looking for perfection or becoming expert. I just wanted to create interesting things, play around, and make things someone else might enjoy, so a more playful name was needed. “Squint Right” seemed perfect, especially given my beginner skills and how most of the pieces I made in class turned out. See above.

I knew if I was aiming for perfection it would make the entire process frustrating. Perfection takes time. Probably an infinite amount of time if we are honest, and ain’t nobody got time for that.

A preacher once told me that the apostles were a collection of “not good enoughs” and I’ve been thinking about that recently. They were fisherman and tax collectors and laborers, not exactly on a studied, rabbinical path. When Jesus said “follow me” they must have been shocked, but they dropped their nets, followed their Rabbi, and changed the world.

Spend a lot of energy striving to be good enough … at work, in school, in relationships … and you’ll learn that’s not a stress-free daily strategy. So for now I’m okay with being not-good-enough. I hope to learn by following masters and just doing, witness a few happy accidents and miracles, have fun, and generally try not to worry about changing the world.