The Art of Having Enough

TRY TO MAXIMIZE YOUR LIFE

Enough as much or as many as required, a word that tends to disappear in the modern world. Nowadays we try to measure anything we can to compare ourselves with everybody else in the world. We want to earn more money, own more things, be more respected, get more followers, and have more likes on  Instagram. To sum it up we think more is better and that's why it's never enough for us. But where does this come from and how much is actually enough. Let's jump back and take a look at the global economy in the last 2,000 years from the year 1 AD our the economy stayed more or less the same but in 1870 things started to take a turn the curve began to rise higher and higher until we got where we are today. In the last 150 years, the average GDP per capita grew by a factor of more than 10 and with that curve, our need for law also grew our modern world is driven by capitalism. 

Our society praises the ones who get up at 5 in the morning and work 80 plus hours a week, the ones who make the most money, live in the biggest houses, and own the nicest cars. Work every waking hour that's the advice one of the most respected entrepreneurs gave to a group of students. 7 days a week all the time we feel obligated to work really hard and maybe one day we can be up there with them - along. With this economic growth, our consumption also started to skyrocket and it became normal to saturate our needs by buying more products. I'm sorry to tell you but a few hundred years ago stores didn't look like this and people didn't look like this. Yeah it's pretty easy we throw away more foods than we would need to feed the world's starving population isn't that just crazy. I think we got greedy and we lost our understanding of it now this is what you've been working for, how much is enough, how big does this pile have to be. We often find ourselves trapped in this race of becoming more successful and with that comes a strong pressure to deliver more than what's good for us.

The steeper the curve became the harder it got to keep up with the competition and to live up to our own expectations. We started to work harder put in long hours and ultimately burn out to justify this extreme work ethic. Our society created the mindset of hustle to work hard relentlessly in the face of discomfort to achieve your goals. So, every single day we get up and we try to work as hard as we can towards that goal. Even if it means sacrificing our health our relationships, and personal aspirations because we have to do long hours and we get stressed out. I mean there's always something else to do right especially as a freelancer or as a content creator like myself, there's never really a break. And if you take a break you most of the time feel guilty about it. Most of us don't go to work to earn money and to survive but to satisfy the expectations of other people to get a better job to earn more money and ultimately to live a better life. But the thing is that as soon as you reach that goal you already made up the next one in your mind. That's just how our brains work let's say, for example, you had the goal to earn 1 million dollars as soon as you reach that goal you're probably going to be happy for a couple of days buying all the things and celebrating with your friends. But pretty quickly you're going to realize oh now I actually need two million dollars and that's the thing this necessity for more just never really stops. The way to happiness is not one straight line to the top and as soon as we reach it everything is perfect after reaching the first goal that comes a second one a third one and so on. So ultimately there is no top there's not really such thing as making it. Because our brains are just hardwired to strive for more and they're never really satisfied with anything we achieve.

Ryan Holliday has a really good quote about that which says " The need for progress can be the enemy of enjoying the process " which I think is 100 percent true. I often find myself in these situations where I just have a lot of fixed goals for the future and things that I want to accomplish. But then I just forget about enjoying the process I'm just rushing through all of my projects because I want to get it done as fast as possible to reach that goal. I think we shouldn't be rushing through our lives just in return for this bright future and we might have someday. But instead, we should strive to be happier in our life. In the current situation, we should train our minds to be more growth-oriented instead of goal-oriented. So how much is enough is a mindset you can never really have enough by just getting more external accomplishments but instead, you have to change your internal way of thinking your mindset ask yourself what you already have and what you always had. Every single one of us already has so much but we just struggle to see it. 

We have relationships with families and all those unforgettable experiences aren't worth so much more than money fame or material objects. You don't have to live up to anybody else's expectations and you also don't owe anything to this world. And there's no pressure on you can basically just do whatever you want to do and I can tell you that you're enough the way you are right now not in the future not in the past but just this the present moment. So you might wonder how you can take action right now to find out what's enough for you and to implement this idea in your life. I think the best place to start is your job you don't need to work long hours to be successful and make a lot of money. You need to work smart and consistent you have to define for yourself what's enough for you to live a happy life. And you can do that by answering the following two questions first " How much money do you really need? " to feel comfortable. Second " How many hours do you want to work a day to still have time for other things? ". With these things in mind, you should now try to find a balance between them if you already earning more money then you need to feel comfortable. You can just ask your boss if you can cut back on the hours to have more time for other things and on. 

On the other hand, if you have a lot of free time but you feel like your money is limiting you, then you can just ask for more work or just get a second job to try to maximize your life and not your income. I personally also reach that point in my job where I just said okay this is enough money for me to feel comfortable and to fill my needs for a long time. And to just spend my time with something I'm more passionate about. This is the point, there can always be this tiny bit more, but I just knew that it was enough for me to take this step. Somebody who knows that what he has is enough doesn't lack anything and doesn't feel like he's falling behind in life. But instead, he can enjoy his work and spend more time with other things that bring joy to his life. No ceaseless wanting, no insecurity of comparison, just feeling satisfied with yourself and your world. 

So, summing up today's topic "Try to satisfy yourselves, Try to be happy by yourselves instead of trying to impress and satisfy other people's minds.