Enough is enough

Do you proactively define what is enough or reactively default to more?

The reach for more is stronger than ever. It's a few clicks away in our favourite streaming, shopping and food delivery apps. It’s on the shelves at the stores, on the advertising billboards and on the news. It's in the number of zeroes in our bank accounts or on our credit card bills. It’s on the list of tasks to do at work and home, and it’s in the number of hours we work to earn our badge of honour.

More is in our lives in ways that were never possible in the past. Happiness has become a never-ending search in the vast sea of excess. And personal productivity is now a necessary tool to optimize every aspect of our lives, so more can be added.

It has become hard to imagine less. Less is a ridiculous thought; it sounds like a step back, admitting defeat and certainly not enough.

And yet...

There is little satisfaction accumulating for the sake of it. The more we have, the more we want, and the less satisfied we are.

We need to cut through the noise to do the great work we set out to do. Shed off the weight and expectations that continuously remind us that we are not enough.

Under the dissatisfaction of the default, many have experimented with new ways to connect with enough. KonMari brought us a framework to let go of what we no longer need. The Minimalists reconnect us with what truly matters, the FIRE movement focuses on optimizing the money we do have, and Paul Millerd brings us on a journey beyond the default path.

And none will tell us what is enough; they will, however, provide a perspective and guide us toward defining it for ourselves.

It turns out that without defining what is enough, we will default to more. And the longer we wait, the longer we subject ourselves to being a cog in the machine.

How much money, focus, time, and energy is enough?

We did not evolve to live a life of constant need for more, nor a life of abstinence. We thrive in the balance, the in-between, knowing what is enough and playing full out within those boundaries.

And only then can we show up, do our best work, contribute, collaborate and support one another.

Miguel,
Sparknotion – Think Differently.