The “Enough Number”: Your escape hatch to the “success hamster wheel”
In the relentless pursuit of professional achievement, there’s a trap that catches even the most ambitious among us – a glittering, seductive pit where success becomes an addiction and life becomes a blur of constant striving.
In Season 1, Episode 4 of the Work That’s Worth It podcast, Mark Newberg and I discuss a concept worth repeating here in the blog: the Enough Number.
Discover your ‘Enough Number’
The Enough Number isn’t just a financial concept. It’s a lifeline – a deliberate pause button in a world that only knows how to accelerate.
For many high-achievers, this is counterintuitive. Our brains are wired to chase, compare, and always see the next rung on the ladder. Someone will always be climbing faster, earning more, achieving more. And before you know it, you’re trapped on a hamster wheel, mistaking motion for meaning.
The brutal truth? Capitalism (i.e. shareholders) loves nothing more than ambitious people who never look up from their grind. It feeds on that relentless hunger and belief that your worth is directly proportional to your achievement or your bank balance. And they know how to dangle the carrot out of reach to keep you engaged.
Determine your impact goals
This is where you need your Enough Number: Your rebellion against that system. This habit requires a yearly ritual of recalibration and reflection.
What does success actually look like for you right now and in the future?
What resources do you genuinely need to feel secure, fulfilled, and free?
And what will it cost you to get them?
What is your idea of impact?
This isn’t about settling. It’s about being strategic. It’s about recognizing that life happens while you’re busy making other plans – or more accurately, while you’re busy climbing that endless ladder. As Mark says:
“Stability is dramatically underrated. If you can be realistic about what you need to earn to pay your bills… It’s very hard to have an impact if you can’t pay your bills.”
Keep your success goals flexible
Your Enough Number will shift. It’ll change with life stages, with personal growth, with unexpected turns. Maybe it’s a specific financial milestone. Maybe it’s about time freedom. Maybe it’s about impact, not income. The point is to clarify it consciously, and regularly.
The most dangerous lie we tell ourselves is that the next achievement will finally be enough. Spoiler alert: it won’t be. Not unless you decide, deliberately and courageously, what “enough” means to you.
Steps to finding your ‘Enough Number’
How do you actually calculate your Enough Number? It’s more than just a random figure. It requires a brutally honest, comprehensive assessment of your life and an understanding of the cost of living.
- Check out a Cost of Living Calculator online, and play around with the options to get a starting point.
- Understand realistic housing costs in your city or other dream locations.
- Factor in existing debt payoff strategies
- Consider future education expenses for you or your children
- Budget for meaningful vacations and desired life experiences
- Plan for potential elderly care for parents
- Account for personal and family healthcare
- Include a safety net: a buffer for unexpected life changes
The goal is to get a realistic picture of what it truly takes to live your version of a good life. Not the life society expects, not the life your peers are chasing, but YOUR authentic life.
How your ‘Enough Number’ helps your career path
Ultimately, knowing your Enough Number gives you freedom for greater fulfillment and more emphasis on enjoying the journey. It’s not about stopping your ambition—it’s about redirecting your success. It’s about creating space to live, not just achieve. To experience, not just accomplish. To find meaning beyond the next milestone, and to recognize that your worth isn’t measured by your productivity, but by the richness of your life.
So pause. Reflect. Ask yourself: What’s my Enough Number right now? And am I living towards that, or just racing towards an undefined finish line?
Your future self is waiting for this conversation.
Want more stories of people who’ve cracked the code on combining income and impact?
Listen to the Work That’s Worth It podcast:
Sign up to the monthly newsletter to join the community of Disruptors for Good, who make their work count
Georgi
As the visionary founder of Work That's Worth It, Georgi specializes in unearthing the unique inspiration and career desires of those seeking significance, both for themselves and for the world.
