WORK, TIME, MONEY - HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

More

More is infinite. There is no completion, no arrival possible. Having gained more, there is still more to gain. Having accomplished more, there is no satisfaction; there is more. We are quite accustomed to the concept of more. Since childhood, we have each learned to reach for more. More brings more fulfillment and satisfaction, we learn. Yet, there is always more.

We have quite naturally progressed in our search for more. We started with natural biological drives for more milk and more loving. We discovered the euphoric feeling delivered by sugar at the same time we discovered that money can bring us more of that sugar. The addictive link between feeling good, sugar and money was established early on and more is the addiction.

As adults we still are hooked on more. We work more. We try to bring more money into our lives. We then spend more. We commit more of our precious life time to the addictive cycle of work and spend. More is infinite. Are you tired of running and running, faster and faster, in that squirrel cage of "more"?

The marketing or development department of every organization you have ever worked with, profit or not-for-profit, sees more as it's goal. There has to be more market share attributed to the organization and that has to translate into more revenue and more profit. The market price of the stock must be rising more and more. More is still infinite.

This cycle of more is not healthy for you or for me or for our children.

The Fulfillment Curve

When we examine The Fulfillment Curve introduced by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin in their best-selling book, Your Money or Your Life (Penguin, 1992), we see graphically the life-cycle of more. Initially, when we spend more money we actually do experience more fulfillment. These are our base-line expenditures such as the food, shelter, and clothing needed for our survival, our needs.

When we are old enough to work and earn money, we discover anew the pleasures of more as we purchase our first car, first apartment, or first special outfit. While we are spending more of our time to earn that money and we are spending more of our money on these comforts, the fulfillment is there, to be sure. Remember the first car you ever bought? Can you recall your joy in owning it? What kind of car was it? What color was it? How much did you pay for it? Even in your memories, there remains great fulfillment from that exciting purchase. Your understanding of how the formula works was firmly reinforced.

With full-time work, marriage, home-ownership and children the more cycle expands. In this part of the bell-curve, it takes more money and more time to achieve the same thrill. The curve begins to flatten out as we move into the luxury phase of the "earn and spend" trap.

Before long, the curve starts to head down again. Even though more money is being spent, it is taking more and more in order to recreate that simple high we first felt as a child. The second, third, fourth and fifth cars just don't hold the same excitement as the first. The costs of ownership, such as maintaining, storing, insuring, learning to operate, and disposing responsibly, begin to weigh on us. The fulfillment and satisfaction are more elusive even though we continue to follow our tried-and-true formula of spending more to achieve more fulfillment.

We are so programmed to more and more, we keep at it in our belief that more money will bring more satisfaction. We find ourselves deeply in debt, very exhausted, estranged from our families and communities and burdened with responsibilities. As in any addiction, eventually we find our bottom.

Enough - Hanging Out At The Top Of The Curve

But wait! Picture that bell-curve again. There was a high point to that curve. That place was where we were achieving maximum fulfillment and satisfaction. The money spent at that point was actually less than what was being spent later in the curve. Dominguez and Robin call that point "enough".

As defined in Your Money or Your Life, enough is: