I want to dive a little bite further into the concept of “enough”. It seems to me to be a concept that is foreign to what most of us have experienced … and if we were totally honest … a concept that we have NOT lived out in our lives. I know I haven’t.
So … as you start to think about and explore this concept … know right up front that it is very counterculture to what is “preached” in the U.S. And be prepared for people to look at you kind of funny … if you have the guts to be vocal and visible about taking on the fight against “more”.
CRITICAL BECAUSE OF OVERWHELM
I think that it is critical that each of us start this exploration. Almost everyone I know is feeling this sense of overwhelm brought on by the very real societal pressures we experience daily. Everything around us feels like too much.
How about you? Have you experienced that feeling of being overwhelmed?
The perfect lives we see on social media are consuming our feeds. People we see on social media are going after super-ambitious goals. Taking huge risks and “going for it all” are things that are praised and applauded … even though the true outcomes of what those things lead to are rarely shared.
The people we work with or surround ourselves with have huge ostentatious dreams. And as we look at this … it is tiring just thinking about what it might take to be “that successful”.
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
HOW DO WE START
So how do we start to explore this concept of “enough” and see what it means for each of us individually? Yes … this is one of those things where you cannot look to others for the answers. It is an individual and very personal pursuit. For what is “enough” is subjective to each and every person. How I define my “enough” may be wildly different from your “enough”.
WE WILL START BY FOCUSING ON MONEY
As much as I don’t want to focus on money … because I believe that there are so many other … often neglected … aspects of what makes up “Diane Davis” … I know that money is one aspect of who we are … but it is such a huge part of most of our lives. So I want to get this part of our talk over with … and later we can look at the other aspects that make up to totality of who we are.
THE PROCESS
I love to have a step-by-step process to follow. (That is the analytical crazy person that lives inside my head.) So I am going to blatantly share with you a formulaic approach to defining “enough” as it pertains to money that was created, I believe, by Jason Zook. I love this process because it’s a plug in the numbers and the answer(s) appear. Easy peasy.
First: Establish your Monthly Minimum Magic Number (MMM)
Second: Establish your Enough Number (E)
Your MMM formula:
Minimum monthly living expenses
+ Minimum monthly business expenses
+ Paying off debt (monthly payments)
+ Peach of mind cushion (monthly savings)
= Your MMM Number
Your E formula:
Your MMM Number
+ Realistic monthly revenue growth in your business
+ Additional money you want to save/invest each month
= Your E Number
CONSCIOUSLY KNOW YOUR ENOUGH NUMBER
Now that you consciously know your Enough Number … let’s take it another step further. When I compared my actual Enough Number to the number(s) that represent ‘success’ – numbers that I had had in my head for I cannot remember how long, I found that my Enough Number was less that my previous target.
Do you know today … right now … what number(s) represent “success” for you?
It was an empowering experience …for my Enough Number can represent goals I can actually achieve while still being true to my goals and values.
And there is another step further … which I haven’t gotten to yet. But it’s when I will reach my Enough Number. I will be at the top of MY (enough mountain) … and can choose, if I want to, to slow down some … or maybe slow way way down.
IT’S A CONSCIOUS DECISION
The point of all this … for me and for you … is to make a conscious decision on what is “enough” for me … for you … based on who we were designed to be … not on who our world has tried to hammer / mold us into. A conscious decision on what my … what your … true definition of “success” really is.
Do you think most people can consciously define what “success” means to them?
What do you think gets in the way of most people consciously defining “success”?
Comments