Most people don’t find their ‘Enough’, instead they have enough dictated to them by the world.
What does ‘Enough’ mean? At what point do our ambitions find their ‘enough’ point?
Hold on tight, because I’m hoping this essay hits you personally.
Society is designed to chase more, and holy moly, the chase is thrilling. We get pumped with ads for things we don’t need (but watch us justify it), we see people in positions we don’t want to be in and think ‘yes, that’s what I need’, we get a promotion or a pay rise and keep chasing the carrot that is dangled by society for more. More. Always MORE.
I’ve been there. Some days I am, some days I’m not. Some days I want a yacht to sail through Indonesia as a famous writer, and other days I just love my landscaping business.
When I was younger, I started a Fintech before fintechs were cool. I wanted to help heaps of people, create a big wave, and buy myself an island and an Aston Martin (because James Bond drove them. Duh.) I was as ambitious as they come.
The problem with my ambition was that it was all-consuming. Nothing was ever good enough, nothing smelled or felt quite right because there was always a carrot dangling.
The Fintech company didn’t go as planned.
And then I started a tourism company, which went gangbusters. During our peak, we sent $100,000 in one day of sales. We leveraged, took risks and tried to grow more. During our peak, rather than consolidating, systemising and putting in place safety measures, I took more risks and searched out more ways to grow. Every time we hit milestones, the bar would move - What’s next?
The result? Unsurprisingly, a divorce and bankruptcy.
Am I anti-ambition? God no. The opposite. Shoot your shot. Go find more.
The Problem?
More doesn’t find peace. More doesn’t have a ceiling. More doesn’t stop. More will make you miss the wholesome side of life which is what we’re actually all chasing.
More makes any achievement feel insignificant and impermanent. You may have been working to something for years, and before you achieve it, you’re already thinking of what’s next.
We need to remember to stop and smell the flowers, because right now is ‘the good old days’, we just don’t realise it. Yet.
If you’re always becoming more, you’re never being enough.
Enough as a feeling
There comes a point, perhaps it’s with age, where you find the feeling of enough. It may not be enough forever, but it’s enough for right now. You may not have a fat, juicy bank account, but you have a roof over your head, you’re loved, and you know where your next meal is coming from.
That’s pretty fucking cool.
Enough means that you may not be where you WANT to be, but you’re on the way. You’re content, yet ambitious. At peace, yet aspirational.
You have enough muscles where you don’t feel like a dweeb.
Enough money to buy an occasional meal out.
Enough work done today.
Having enough isn’t laziness or settling. Enough is clarity and contentment.
Enough is smelling the flowers in front of your face rather than staring at the bouquet through the glass window.
This is Important.
When your identity is solid, you stop chasing external validation, and start cherishing the flowers you have.
You don’t lift for Instagram or the girls at the bar.
You don’t earn money to impress.
You don’t write for the overwhelming adoration of your 7 readers.
You lift for you, to feel good.
You earn because you want to, not because you have to.
You write about things you want, not what your screaming fans are clamouring for.
We smell the flowers.
Enough
Enough isn’t anti ambition. It’s identity defined. It’s ambition with boundaries - when to push, and when to enjoy a literal or metaphorical margarita on the beach. It’s being present in the moment, enjoying the little things that more doesn’t give us, like a smile, a laugh, or a hug. It’s enjoying the now, not anticipating the future.
Having a sense of enough means that we’re comfortable in our own skin, a trait increasingly less common today.
Enough is ambition with it’s bum in the sand, margarita in hand. Enough is enough, even just for now.