A science news in Yahoo says that many people are planning important events on July 7, 2007. That is because it falls on the 7th day of the seventh month of 2007, or 07/07/07 in a mm/dd/yy format. Part of the news reads “Brides and grooms, especially, looking for a little extra dose of marital fortune, are flocking to the altar in droves on 07/07/07, according to wedding watchers.”

There are a lot of things I found very odd about this. First is that how a news like this could fall under the category of science. But then again, I read within the middle part of the text that it has something to do with numerology, or “para-sciences” like astrology. Second, and most odd about it is that I really wonder how a certain day can impact ones life. Is it really possible that there are certain days that are bad luck and certain days that are good luck for one person? I guess that would depend if you do believe in luck, or to put it bluntly, if you are superstitious. Can numbers control our fate?

Can we help not to be a superstitious people? Even in an age where technology keeps on evolving, and improving, I still get to witness irrational acts or reactions. There are still people who don’t want to get pictures in groups of three, avoid going out on a Friday that falls on the 13th day of the month, knocks on wood whenever some unspeakable words are accidentally uttered, and other things I still don’t get the logic of.

At the office, we receive a daily “Horoscope” email from one email administrator. Except during certain times that I want to read something amusing, I always delete it. I don’t believe that following or avoiding certain numbers, colors or even days could have a direct effect on the outcome of my life. Perhaps if I was heavy on gambling, then certain numbers might be a favorite, but I wouldn’t consider lucky.

I just can’t put together how the movement of planets and stars, which are way far distant from, light years away in fact, could have influence on my daily activities? But then again, I know of a person who is very fearful of the moon, full moon to be specific. This person hides at home, closes all the windows and doesn’t go out during the full moon. Perhaps this proves that the term lunatic is no trivia at all.

Speaking of dates, it fascinates me how some people, and I find it peculiar to most women, remember with complete accuracy the exact dates in certain events of their lives. While I have bad memory in history, there are some people who are so good at remembering the dates, even to the littlest details of what color this or that person wore. I guess some things I consider petty, are most important to others. What a difference a day makes is not found in the day itself, but is found in the person that makes it.

What A Difference A Day Makes
Words & Music by Maria Grever & Stanley Adams
As popularized by by Dinah Washington, 1959

What a diff'rence a day makes
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain

My yesterday was blue, dear
Today I'm part of you, dear
My lonely nights are through, dear
Since you said you were mine

What a diff'rence a day makes
There's a rainbow before me
Skies above can't be stormy
Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss

It's heaven when you
Find romance on your menu
What a diff'rence a day makes
And the difference is you

What a diff'rence a day makes
There's a rainbow before me
Skies above can't be stormy
Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss

It's heaven when you
Find romance on your menu
What a diff'rence a day makes
And the difference is you.

“Good is the enemy of great.” I heard this phrase during one of the meeting we had at our office. As I was listening, I seem to get the idea being implied that “good isn’t good enough.” Did it say to mean that we don’t have to be content with being good alone? That instead of being good, we have to aim to be great? So I ask myself, “When does it stop?”

The phrase is popularized by Good to Great author Jim Collins. This is probably borrowed from a quote from Dictionnaire Philosophique by the French Philosopher Voltaire literally translated as "The best is the enemy of good.", but is more commonly cited as "The perfect is the enemy of the good." There is much debate over what Voltaire originally meant when he said “the best is the enemy of good.” But it seems that most interpretation have the idea that sometimes aiming the best is not necessarily good, or might not necessarily turn out good.

Just recently, I received an email with the subject “Staff died due to over work.” The girl, just at the age of 28 was suspected to have died of deep vein thrombosis, a result of inactivity spending too much time with her laptop. She wanted to achieve her dream of “flying high” at the expense of her health. We might find it amusing and say it might not happen to us. But how sure are we that we are not heading in that same direction, with less intensity?

In a cut-throat culture that we adopt today, there seems to be a pressure to edge out competition by being more innovative. When competition comes up with an idea that we have not thought of, we are at the edge of our seats, hear alarm sounds and push the panic button. We should have thought of it first. But since we have not thought of it first, we have to come up with something better.

What could be wrong with being “good enough?” Why couldn’t the good that we do be not good enough? We keep on pushing the standards up to the limit. In the process, we sacrifice a lot of things because we consider them minor, for the sake of achieving a better good or in this case for the sake of achieving the "best." But could the best be good for us?

Consider the following scenario. You might be going to work following a normal schedule. Suddenly, a light bulb pops in your head and gives you the vision that you can accommodate extra load by going to work a little earlier than your time. So you wake up a little earlier than normal. This goes on for some time until you think that “I could do more work by staying a little late than I usually do.” So you stay a little longer. What is thirty minutes anyway? Then your thirty minutes become an hour. Then an hour becomes two. Suddenly, you have to work extra during the weekend because you have to finish a deadline. This becomes a habit until you no longer realize that what used to be is no longer your normal schedule and that what you are now used to is your new normal schedule.

Again consider the following scenario. Last year you have projected a 75% target and surpassed it by achieving 80%. But you are not contented and so we have to go beyond the target. Since you were able to achieve 80% last year, you have to do better by setting 85% as target. And you will only be happy if you achieve beyond the set target. So you have to overhaul a lot of things. You might be urged to “think out of the box” just to stress to think of something different than the good you have been doing. So you fix something that isn’t even broken. In the end, you set priorities and goals to achieve, but sacrificing the minor things that are good and yet make up a whole.

"Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem - in my opinion - to characterize our age." - Einstein