This past week I have derived considerable satisfaction and pleasure on three different fronts: home, work, and family. All three efforts have required much creative planning and organization, two have been in process for months, one for weeks, and all three are coincidentally nearing a point of culmination; though only one will bring closure while the other two will move forward to an advanced stage. I believe it is the accident of simultaneous climax that has intensified the pleasure. I am, (if not frequently), consistently satisfied with (what I see as) various stimulating peaks of creativity, but seldom have come to the strength of multiple gratifications as I have in this past week. I believe the anticipation of further fulfillment on two fronts also adds to that pleasure. And I believe I have just discovered the mechanics underlying the intensity.

Creative planning and organization is merely the headline. Delving deeper, all three of these processes required a translation from one language to another, and a molding and shaping to transform this new language into an engaging and substantial palpability readily understood and appreciated. Whether the first language is raw data, a plethora of jumbled words and pictures, or a spiked wheel of suggestions and ideas, to make the complex appear understandable to those who don't speak "complex" may appear to be magic. It is not magic. But it is satisfying. And pleasurable.

In one of these "successful" struggles. I had to keep reminding myself of my three rules for creative projects:

1. You want to get it Perfect.
2. You have to get it Good.
3. You have to understand Diminishing Returns.

Rule #1 applies to all hands-on planning and execution. Rule #2 applies to all down-time away from your project. Rule #3 does not kick in until the project is somewhere between 90 and 95 percent complete. (Of course it is not quite this simple as there are many "mini" projects within the scope of the larger project, creating a cyclical web of Perfect, Good, and Diminishing Returns.) In this particular project I had to keep reminding myself of these three rules and their cyclical nature because the individual I was working with only had two rules:

1. You want to get it Perfect.
2. You have to get it Perfect.

We did not get it Perfect. She did not receive a Perfect result, and in the end she was okay with that; but in the process she had many more ups and downs and (I am guessing) less overall enjoyment than I experienced.

It was a good week. Not Perfect; but Good.