The other day, our neighbor, a realtor, told me about a house that he’s putting on the market. He said this was a newish home, only two houses from the beach.
Everything about the house sounded awesome—except for the price.
I joked with him, saying that if I worked harder, I could knock down my cottage and build a home that would fetch at least that amount.
He responded with, “Why do you need to work harder? Why not keep your cottage as is and enjoy your life?”
He stopped me in my tracks, and I couldn’t help but think:
Why are we always looking for the next best thing when what we have is pretty darn awesome?
Let’s say your team members are good workers. When delivering their performance review, why must we always find that one bad thing to say? Or why must we always be in search of excellence?
Or let’s say you’re happy in your job, and those around you aren’t. You soon find yourself moving over to the dark side, and before you know it, you’re searching for a new job when the one you have is excellent.
Or perhaps you make pretty good money, and you have time to enjoy your life. Yet, you have this needling feeling that you should be making more.
STOP!!!
Here’s how to get yourself out of the envy loop.
Define what success means to you. Write this down on paper and tack it up on your bulletin board. Refer to your note daily to remind yourself of what’s important to you.
Stop comparing yourself to others. (Okay, this one is for me.) There will always be someone with a bigger house or who appears to be more successful than you. Are you happy with the here and now? If not, take steps to improve your condition. If you’re good where you are, help others in need.
Keep track of your progress. There are days when you’ll feel like you’re not making much progress, even though you are. But how will you know this if you don’t track your progress? Set your goals and the metrics you will use to assess your success. Then commit to regularly reviewing the steps you are taking to achieve your goals.
Be okay with where you are. They’ll be times in your life when being where you are is exactly where you need to be. Permit yourself to be happy in this place.
You can always make another dollar, but you can’t make another minute. My mentor, Alan Weiss, tells me this often. I’m choosing to enjoy my life and spend time seeing the world with my family. That means that our cottage will remain standing for yet another day.
What’s your good enough, and when will you be okay with this?
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