A Great Question
I attended a meeting with a group of fellow entrepreneurs where a member asked if growth (in business) was good just for the sake of it. She was asking because she was happy with the size of her business. She wanted to know what is enough business growth? The question stuck with me, I found it both profound & insightful. It’s my belief that much of our experience is framed by the questions we ask ourselves and the world around us. So when this young woman, who was perfectly successful and content with her business, asked if she should want to grow it just “because” got me thinking about how we so often get caught up in having ‘more,’ and what we sacrifice in that pursuit because we don’t realize we have enough or what that even means.
The Ego Wants to Want More Than it Wants to Have
Eckhart Tolle put it very well when he said, “No ego can last for long without the need for more. Therefore, wanting keeps the ego alive much more than having. The ego wants to want more than it wants to have. And so the shallow satisfaction of having is always replaced by more wanting.”
We so seldom enjoy the concept of enough. Sometimes we have enough, we have plenty more than enough and we just don’t take a moment to realize it, to appreciate it. As an accountability coach, I see this all the time. Even before a goal has been met but it is well in sight the person is already thinking about their next even bigger goal. We intentionally take a pause in our programs to stop and let the growth that has taken place sink in. To review where we started and how far we have come. Otherwise, there would be a feeling of being on a never-ending treadmill of more and next. Instead, we try to stop or at least slow down that cycle.
Conscious Growth
So although I am in love with the concept of growth, I am absolutely aware the growth that I want to inspire in others, is the conscious growth. The kind that comes from knowing what you have and appreciating it. When you’ve reached a goal, to pause and take that in. To realize what the costs were and to know that whatever comes next is also going to take work, focus and that there is always a giving up or letting go of something. I try to emphasize that whatever you want doesn’t change the knowing that you are whole and complete right here, right now and at the same time it’s great to find new challenges and ways of expressing yourself from a place of fullness rather than lack.
I encourage you to really think about enough for you. What does it mean to have enough in your business? What does it mean to have enough financially? Think about your family, what does enough time with them look for you? What does it mean to have enough time for yourself?
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