Finding your "enough" point
Define the level of income and stuff past which more stops adding to your life.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Define the level of income and stuff past which more stops adding to your life.
- Why it works: Consumption tends to ratchet upward as income rises (the hedonic treadmill), so satisfaction never arrives because the baseline keeps moving. Explicitly naming an "enough" point — the level beyond which more does not meaningfully improve wellbeing — gives you a target to stop ascending and start redirecting surplus toward meaning.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Setting "enough" as a moving target that always sits just above current income, so it can never be reached.
Why it works
Consumption tends to ratchet upward as income rises (the hedonic treadmill), so satisfaction never arrives because the baseline keeps moving. Explicitly naming an "enough" point — the level beyond which more does not meaningfully improve wellbeing — gives you a target to stop ascending and start redirecting surplus toward meaning.
How to do it
- 1Reflect on the income and lifestyle level where you already had what you needed.
- 2Name your "enough" — the point past which you would rather have time than more.
- 3Direct surplus beyond it toward freedom, generosity, or meaning instead of upgrades.
What the evidence says
ObservationalSupported by research on hedonic adaptation and on the diminishing returns of income for emotional wellbeing above a certain level — more money buys less added happiness as it grows.
Honest caveat: Thresholds vary widely by location, family, and circumstance; later work nuances the plateau. Below a real sufficiency level, more money clearly helps.
- — Kahneman & Deaton (2010), income and emotional wellbeing, PNAS
Common mistake
Setting "enough" as a moving target that always sits just above current income, so it can never be reached.
IX Coach helps you articulate a concrete "enough" and notice when the treadmill is quietly resetting it upward again.
Practice this with IX Coach →