A Case for Knowing What’s Enough

Years ago, when I first started Accountability Works, I joined an entrepreneurial mentoring group. The leader was someone I respected and admired, he had many years of executive leadership experience, at one point running a $400M company. He was a natural community builder and loved offering his guidance to this group of ambitious entrepreneurs. 

The Question That Stopped the Room

After attending monthly meetings for the better part of a year, there was a young woman who owned a thriving company who posed a question that went something like this, “I love my work, I’m happy with my income and lifestyle, do I have to grow just to grow?” It was a record scratch moment. In fact, I don’t think she ever got an answer because it flabbergasted everyone in the room.

Not wanting to grow was the antithesis of the whole ethos of the group. 

I remember my own reaction was thinking how nice that must feel. How good to be clear on what you wanted and to have it and to know it. I was just starting out and that felt very far away at the time. And in the intervening years I’ve often reflected on how quick one is to grab for the next rung on the proverbial ladder rather than to pause and ask, what do I really want? 

It’s our work to make sure that the actions you are taking and the goals you set are aligned to the answer to that question. Just like you can love your fitness routine without needing to overhaul it, you can love where your business is at. 

The Case for Enough

Why is it rebellious to say that? More is everything we are told and sold. Enough is foreign. It’s boring. Some might even call it lazy, but is it really? Just like that day, no one can give you the answer of what’s enough. 

And yet even when we sense we might be there, even when something inside us says this is good, this is enough, we talk ourselves out of it. Am I satisfied or complacent? If I’m not focused on growing my business, does that mean I’m falling behind? That uncertainty is what robs you of the ability to redirect your energy without guilt, to say I want to put my attention somewhere else that matters.

What Does Enough Actually Look Like for You?

Humans like to learn and grow, we just do, but we can do so to the detriment of all the other aspects of our life when we get confused about what we want and why. 

We are in a cultural moment that has very little patience for enough. More is the mandate, more growth, more revenue, more scale, more everything. It’s loud and it’s relentless.

So be a rebel.

Pause and ask yourself, what is enough for me? Not what the room expects, not what the culture is selling, but what you actually want. I still reflect on how rare, unicorn rare, it is to know what you want, then to have it, and to actually know you have it. 

I have a feeling your answer is much simpler than you realize.