The Enough Equation

One of the hardest things to be clear on in life is knowing what ‘enough’ is.

What’s enough money to be making, enough influence to have, enough life experiences to feel like you made the most out of life?

Each person’s answer is deeply personal and highly specific to the context of their life. And that’s why it’s so hard to feel confident that your needs are met, and that you have enough.

Layer onto that the additional complexity that ‘enough’ can mean two different things: One definition being about sufficiency and completeness, and the other about tolerating what’s still not ideal.

That’s why I was so interested to hear Larry Kesslin’s “Enough Equation”, a formula for knowing that you’ve achieved the level of wholeness your soul is seeking. This is what Larry had to say about it:

“Enough Academy for me is about when we have enough, what’s our responsibility back to society. And I don’t think we teach that. So I came up with this ‘Enough Equation’, and the idea of ‘enough’ is killed by comparison. So you’ll never have enough if you compare yourself to somebody who has so much more.

But in the numerator of the ‘Enough Equation’ is being. It starts with being. Being authentic. Plus giving, Giving intentionally without knowing what the outcome of the giving will be. Or just giving for the reason you want to give.

And the last piece is ‘having’. So when we understand the difference between a want and a need, that’s the idea of ‘having’ for me. Having what we need, not what we want.


(Being + Giving + Having) / Comparison = The Enough Equation.”

Let me add my extra breakdown:

Being is about feeling aligned, you’ll never feel complete if you’re not being yourself.

Giving is about purpose, and the fulfillment that comes from connecting to something higher than yourself.

Having what we need rather than what we want is a big differentiator, because there will always be more to want.

And then comparison puts into question  if the extent of your being, giving, and having is satisfactory - which has the potential to disqualify your significance.

If anything, take this as another reminder to live your life by your own rules, and if you must compete, compete with yourself.

This is a snippet from my conversation with Larry about his most recent book, ‘The Joy Molecule’, you can watch the full interview here!