The Relentless Pursuit of OK

In this 82nd episode of No Hair, All Heart, Mookie Spitz revisits last week’s “70% is bullshit” rant and flips the script. What if the problem isn’t that we’re not trying hard enough—but that we’re trying too hard? What if the real path to the good life comes not from chasing perfection but from embracing “OK”?

Mookie explores the paradox at the heart of modern living: the harder we grind, the more anxious and unhappy we become. Striving for excellence often drags an 8 or 9 down to a 7. Yet when we stop obsessing over winning and simply enjoy doing things badly—or just adequately—we stumble into joy, freedom, and meaning.

Through personal stories—taking six hours to finish the New York City Marathon, fumbling Eddie Van Halen solos, or losing social media followers—Mookie shows how the satisfaction of running, playing, writing, or ranting isn’t tied to metrics, mastery, or external validation. It’s in the act itself. By lowering the stakes and detaching from outcomes, “OK” becomes the doorway to presence, resilience, and even transcendence.

Highlights include:

• The competition trap: why consumer culture equates worth with “more,” and why it leaves us empty.
• When effort backfires: how overexertion turns fulfillment into stress and joy into burnout.
• Reframing mediocrity: why accepting “OK” isn’t settling, but a way to unlock balance, gratitude, and the good life.
• The deeper lesson: the bullseye isn’t the point—the bow, the arrow, and the practice are.

By embracing the relentless pursuit of “OK,” Mookie argues, we unhook ourselves from the binary of hero or zero and rediscover what it means to live well: doing enough, enjoying the moment, and not caring about anyone else’s scoreboard.

And given today's tumultuous times, arguably no pursuit is more necessary than good enough,