Focus on your Good Jobs more than your Bad Jobs

Why “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” Is Holding You Back

In this blog, I want to share something that’s been weighing on my mind lately especially as I’ve crossed into my 40s and realized just how much energy and time it takes simply to maintain your physical and mental health. The truth is, by the time you hit 40–45, you’ll spend at least a few hours every day just taking care of your body. And that’s if you kept up with your health before then. If you didn’t, you’ll spend even more catching up.

So if you’re younger, take it from me: start taking care of yourself NOW. Don’t let it get bad and then fix it because digging yourself out of a hole is much harder than never getting into it.

All of that ties directly into the main mindset I want to challenge in this blog:

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Honestly? I think that’s one of the most destructive phrases in leadership and life.

One of our listeners sent in a great message. He’s working at a company that insists everything stays standardized no changes, no improvements, just “do it the way we’ve always done it.” He’s trying to innovate (even built his own Canva weekly report), but he’s reluctant to bring it up because management might reject it in the name of “consistency.”

That mindset might feel safe, but long term it kills progress.

Whether you’re religious or not, both perspectives point to the same truth:

• If you believe in heaven, you believe in eternal growth, service, and progress not sitting on a cloud doing nothing.
• If you’re an atheist, you believe the human race must keep evolving, solving problems, and improving if we want to survive long term.

In both cases, progress is required.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ignores that reality. It stifles innovation, discourages creativity, and ultimately leads to stagnation. Blockbuster said “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We all know how that worked out.

The better mindset is:

Meet the minimum standard but never cap the maximum.

Tap into innovation after you meet the baseline. Encourage growth above the minimum requirement.

That applies to how we run projects too. Companies often rush straight to fix their worst jobs, assigning their best people to “save the day.” But that ends up hurting the best jobs and slowly brings everything down to mediocrity.

Instead:

Focus on your good jobs first.

Support them. Resource them. Reward them. Grow them. If you do that:

• Year 1 – 50% good, 50% bad
• Year 2 – 60% good, 40% bad
• Year 3 – 70% good, 30% bad

Why? Because what you focus on is where you go.

If you spend all your time fighting fires, that becomes your culture. But if you spend time strengthening what’s already working, that becomes your standard and the rest of the organization will eventually follow.

So whether it’s your health or your projects or your career, stop waiting for something to break before you fix it. Improve while things are working. That’s how you create momentum and long term success.

Key Takeaway

Improve while things are going well. The best time to grow is when your health, projects, or career are already on solid footing because progress made from a position of strength creates powerful momentum. When you pour your energy into what’s already working, you not only elevate results in the short term, you also establish a culture of excellence that naturally pulls everything else upward. Don’t settle for maintaining the status quo intentionally move it forward and let that momentum shape the future.