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This is a phrase that my father liked to say, and I think he got it from one of Dostoevsky’s books, which he loved.

The idea is quite simple and has some validity: in our pursuit of excellence we dismiss and reject what is already good.

Dad would say this in reference to our work, to show how we can paralyse our projects by endlessly questing for perfection, rather than go with what we have once it’s good.

This is a concept that has been in the back of my mind while I’ve been finishing my memoir of Dad. I’ve been aware of the risk of delaying publication in my pursuit of perfection.

But, wisdom can be a case of ‘horses for courses’ and on other occasions dad took the position that whatever we make, sell or do should be as high quality as we can make it. He certainly took that approach when it came to developing Spirograph – as you’ll read about in my memoir. Really, he left no stone unturned in his quest for excellence there.

Weighing these conflicting pieces of advice leads us to the conclusion that only we can be the judge of when our efforts are enough.

In my own case, that point has now been reached and in the next few days I will be handing my book across to my friend who is kindly going to format it for me.

So, you will soon be able to decide for yourself whether my efforts to bring Dad’s fascinating story to life are up to the mark.

I hope they are, but I also feel satisfied that I could not have done any more.