In growing a business and designing collections for Mixed, I’m constantly living in the future and asking, what’s next? What’s the next strategic decision? The next collection? The next print. The next style. The next hire.
But every so often, New York decides to deliver a perfect fall weekend that pulls me out of planning and into the present. I spent most of it outdoors with my partner—walking through parks and farmers markets, grabbing tea and pastries, taking pictures of trees, pumpkins and brownstones adorned with halloween decorations. Moments like this remind me that success isn’t just ahead of me; it’s also here, now, to be enjoyed.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about enough.
It’s not a very sexy word for an ambitious person. It feels like lowering the bar, capping potential, keeping things small.
But enough is also the home in which satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment can grow. Without a sense of it, we’re left chasing more—unsatisfied no matter how much we achieve.
But enough is also the home in which satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment can grow. Without a sense of it, we’re left chasing more—unsatisfied no matter how much we achieve.
How much money is enough?
How much friend and family time is enough?
How much recognition?
How much travel, rest, or growth is enough?
How big of a business is enough?
How much friend and family time is enough?
How much recognition?
How much travel, rest, or growth is enough?
How big of a business is enough?
There’s always another milestone, another purchase, another version of success waiting just out of reach. And when “more” is the standard, contentment feels like complacency.
I’m uncomfortable confronting what enough looks like for me. Mostly because, if I’m honest, I think I already have it. And if I already have enough, why bother reaching for more? I have lofty goals, ambitious and challenging ones, so if I already have enough, why keep pushing?
Defining enough isn’t about creating a ceiling; it’s about building a floor. It separates contentment from achievement. Everything beyond enough is simply icing on the cake. And the lower that floor is, the easier it becomes to take risks and build boldly.
We can be deeply content with what we have and still be hungry for what’s next. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. This shift is helping me focus less on amassing and more on improving: refining the process, the product, the work itself.
Because without a sense of what is enough, we may continue to chase satisfaction and find that it always eludes us—we can achieve every Big Thing on our list and still feel empty.
~Nas
~Nas