When MORE Always Exceeds ENOUGH!

How much does a man need?

Are the bare necessities of life – “Food, Shelter & Clothing” ENOUGH to keep us satisfied and happy.

Not many of us are aware of what is ENOUGH to make us happy.

Small Story

The businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The businessman complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.

The businessman then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos; I have a full and busy life, señor."

The businessman scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But señor, how long will this all take?" To which the businessman replied, "15-20 years." "But what then, señor?" The businessman laughed and said, "That's the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions." "Millions, señor? Then what?" The businessman said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "Isn't that what I'm doing right now?"

***

When we were kids, we were SATISFIED & HAPPY with limited variety of games – Ludo, Snakes and Ladder, Carom Board, Scrabble, playing with dough, and few others. With the advent of technology, all games and gizmos available can make us happy only for so much time till the new version is launched with advanced features and the old one is declared obsolete. Be it, X-box, Computers, Mobile handsets, Cars, Flats, Houses, etc… The environment around doesn’t allow us to feel satisfied for long.

All of us are aware that we should stop eating just before the stomach is full as there is a delay in the stomach sending the message to brain. Therefore, if you wait for the message and then stop eating, you will realize that you have already eaten more than what was ENOUGH.

This desire for wanting MORE varies from person to person and can vary from desire for more money, travel, running a successful business, house, spouse, children, fame, recognition, reading, writing, respect, pride, peace, meditation, socializing, etc… They also follow a pattern aligned to Maslow’s Need Hierarchy.

However, we need to deal with another problem; our goals/targets also keep shifting with the inflation, our annual budgets, and be-it our business turnover or our Organisation’s annual turnover. Therefore, satisfaction and happiness only lasts for the time till we have the revised need/goal.

The end result for all the above mentioned things is Satisfaction and Happiness, provided one should accept that what is ENOUGH which he/she has acquired.

We are all conditioned to want MORE, no matter what we already have. And that “MORE” always EXCEEDS “ENOUGH”. Most of the times, we make ourselves miserable in the pursuit of MORE than ENOUGH without pausing to think of how much do we really NEED.

Put up the question for yourself and ask whether are you earning as much as you need or pushing yourself to get more than “ENOUGH”?

What for?                          

If you were to give up that extra shove and instead, spend that time to pursue what makes you really happy, would your life be better? Isn’t it crazy to adore money for the sake of it?

Are we all aware of what we are pursuing all that money for? What do we want it to do for us? How much will we be able to carry along with us to our next journey of life? What will be our Funeral speech?

Here is my suggestion, once we are able to achieve our basic needs, we should think about what will make us really feel satisfied and happy. Find out the difference between EXISTENCE & LIVING?

In order to live well and be on top of life, we need something EXTRA… That’s when; we need to revisit our PURPOSE OF LIFE. WHAT is that we require – Health /Wealth /Work /Career /Profession /Self Esteem /Spirituality. Importantly, for WHOM – Self /Family /Friends /Society /Environment.
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