When Enough Is Enough
I work in marketing, so what I’m about to say might sound a little counterproductive. You probably don’t need more. More clothes, more followers, more square footage, and more whatever happens to be sitting just beyond the thing you finally got.
And yet, wanting more is something most of us know pretty well.
There’s actually a name for part of what’s happening here: hedonic adaptation. Researchers have found that when something good happens, our happiness may increase, but over time we tend to adapt to our new circumstances. What once felt extraordinary starts feeling normal. Our expectations shift, and suddenly the thing we wanted so badly isn’t quite enough anymore.
Think about your first car. Mine happened to be a white Buick Regal with the front bumper hanging down on the driver’s side.
When I was 16 and desperate for my driver’s license, I didn’t worry about heated seats, automatic everything, or whether the interior came in exactly the right shade of camel.
I wanted four tires and freedom. Yep, that was enough. Then..somewhere along the way, enough moved.
And that’s the tricky part. The research suggests that increased aspirations can actually chip away at the happiness created by a positive change. One study found that continuing to appreciate what had improved in our lives could help slow that process.
Which brings me back to marketing.
Good marketing should never be about convincing someone that their life is inadequate without whatever we happen to be selling. At least, that’s not how we see our job.
Our job is connection. If you’re looking for a home in the mountains, perhaps we know about one that fits the life you want. If you’re planning a vacation, maybe one of our clients offers exactly the experience you’ve been searching for. If you need a particular service, our job is to help you discover a company capable of providing it.
We believe there’s a big difference between that and, You need this to be ENOUGH.
Because none of us needs marketing adding another voice to the chorus telling us we’re behind. Especially right now.
Everything costs more and people are worried about money. We open social media and see someone with a better kitchen, bigger business, or seemingly more successful life. There is always another level available for comparison.
And that’s when we need to remember the four-tires version of ourselves. Wanting more isn’t inherently bad and ambition can build wonderful things, but so does noticing when you’re in a white Buick with a bent bumper and feeling like you’d officially made it.
Sometimes the life with less was the life that felt like everything.
