Reading time: 2 minutes

Must-reads

• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
• Just Enough Design: Reflections on the Japanese Philosophy of Hodo-hodo by Taku Satoh
• Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life by John C. Bogle

Knowing your Enough is knowing what you need in life. What is the bare minimum, what is a comfortable level, and what is unnecessary? Be happy with your Enough and feel supported by your Enough in the choices that you make.

Enough doesn’t necessarily mean scoring a low grade. You can strive for perfection if you’d like to. Be aware whether this is honestly your level of enough, or you raising the bars too high. I’ve found my Enough to be different than naturally present through upbringing when I deeply thought about it. The difference is both in topic (matter doesn’t really matter, relationships do matter) and level (money matters, I just need a lot less than I thought).

Enough can be a different level in various areas of life. You’ll probably have to dock a few points in areas if you want to excel in one specific area. This might be a worthy sacrifice if you are aware of your choices. On the other hand, scoring average in all areas is a sacrifice of another type. Make sure that whatever levels of enough you choose, they fit you and you’re content.

Question yourself often on the form of your Enough.

• What is my Enough for money, matter, relationships, health, movement, etc.?
• Am I willing to live according to my Enough?
• When have I done enough for myself, others and the Earth?

Be critical of your own Enough and the Enough of others. Help each other form a clear vision of Enough. Don’t judge them in a comparison and don’t adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. Follow your own Enough and let it be your guide in decisions.

Reading time: 2 minutes

Must-reads

• The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch

In most endeavours a large portion of the results come from a small amount of effort. To get the full score and fill in the last pieces takes the most amount of effort. This is called the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the results come from 20% of the investment. This principle can be used as a rule of thumb in many situations. Sometimes it’s more of a 90/10 principle or 70/30 principle or even 99/1 principle. The main gist of the principle is that a respectable amount of results comes from little work.

This principle has to do with your level of Enough. It is unrealistic to go for 100% results all the time in every aspect of your life. Where you place your Enough decides whether you can use the Pareto principle to get most of your results for minimal effort. The bulk of work can be quickly done and will likely satisfy a realistic Enough. Are the details and the last miles really worth many times the work you still have to put in compared to the work you’ve already done. Or is the 80% score enough, especially considering it only cost you 20% of your effort.

The Pareto principle isn’t applicable to tasks that require meticulousness. In these tasks you need to fill in those last pieces, you have to pay attention to detail. If this is truly the case, ignore the Pareto principle and be scrupulous. Be honest in your evaluation: completeness, attention to detail and perfection is often not needed. Finish these projects to the 80% level with 20% of your time. Save your energy for the tasks that do require this level of precision and completion.

Reading time: 2 minutes

Must-reads

• The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy

Slow but steady wins the race. A steady 1% growth can go a long way. The first growth is just on the initial investment, but every consecutive growth cycle also compounds on the initial investment plus the growth of previous cycles.

A €10.000 investment with 1% growth will increase to €10.100 with €100 worth of growth. In the next cycle, €10.100 will increase to €10.201 with €201 worth of growth. That’s already €1 creeping in out of nowhere compared to the expected €200 growth you would have on just the initial investment. The more compound growth cycles you can add, the better.

In finance, the Rule of 72 is an estimator for the amount of time needed to double your money.

t ≈ 72 / r

where t is the number of periods required to double the investment, and r is the interest rate as a percentage per period.

This effect will return in the chapter on financial health, but is not limited to just finances. In fact, you can use this principle in all areas of life.

t ≈ 72 / r

where t is the number of periods required to double the input, and r is the growth percentage per period.

A €10.000 investment doubles to €20.000 in 12 years against 6% interest per year.

t ≈ 72 / 6 ≈ 12

An initial 10 pushups doubles to 20 pushups in 7.2 weeks against 10% repetitions increase per week.

t ≈ 72 / 10 ≈ 7.2

Being the person that you are, you can become a doubly good person in 72 days against 1% personal growth per day.

t ≈ 72 / 1 ≈ 72

Not all scenarios can be expressed in measurable numbers. A monetary increase from €10.000 to €20.000 is easily measured. Becoming a better person is a vague measurement. Take care when expressing growth in these vague metrics. See those as inspirational and motivational rather than a hard truth.

This principle relies on the possibility of a constant growth rate. In some scenarios there might be a capped growth or a diminishing growth rate. A monetary increase from €10.000 to €20.000 is most likely not capped by the economy and you could even extrapolate this growth beyond what is realistic as an individual. Increasing pushup repetitions from 10 to 20 is within the realm of possibilities, but there will eventually be a physical limit to unrestricted growth. Can you do 30 pushups? 300? 300.000? It is not suited for precise calculations in every area of life, but often good enough as an estimator.