“If you don’t know how much you need, the default easily becomes ‘more.'”
Tim Ferriss, the author of the 4-hour-Body/Workweek/Chef and massively successful entrepreneur, has a podcast where guest speakers come to discuss a wide variety of topics with the goal of offering tools for improving oneself, from a personal and professional standpoint. Tim had the author Ryan Holiday come speak from his book, “Ego is the Enemy“, particularly one of the chapters, “What’s Important to you?” It’s a short 10 minute audio that offers important reminders we all need to review, particularly in a world where comparison is the truest theft of joy and we are constantly told that we have to pursuit more. Ryan harps that we must reach a level of Utimia – Italian for tranquility – and such can be achieved by staying on our own path, remaining true to what you set out to attain, and being satisfied with accomplishing the most you’re capable of on that path you chose. Humans are crippled by an inability to say “No”, as egos rejects trade offs and constantly tell you that you want it all. As soon as you’re just starting to get the hang of one thing, you feel the need to jump into something else, no matter how foreign. We continue to do this, time and time again, even after discovering the emptiness of the illusion. We find ourselves justifying these actions with “If only we had ‘X'”, X being what someone else has. Ryan pushes the listener to develop a quiet confidence in your own independent journey and become enlightened in why you’re after what you’re after. This is a really great listen and I highly recommend the introspective journey.