How Much is Enough?

My passion is working with mid-career professionals at a cross-road in their career. It is an absolute joy to support them in finding and creating a career that is just right for them: A career that they truly feel at home in, that allows them to flourish and contribute with their most precious gifts.

Asking the question, ‘how much is enough?’ helps many of my clients reach clarity on what they need to let go of, so that they can pursue their most important goals. While engaged on their journey of discovering the career that is just right for them, many of my clients are of course still working in a job that drains their energy. This energy drain can get in the way of getting in touch with what is right for them career wise.

While her family needed the income that these additional days of teaching afforded her, she knew that every added day of teaching further depleted her energy. She needed to ask herself: “How much is enough?”

Mary (not her real name) one of my career coaching clients found herself in this situation. She was working in a part-time teaching position that was draining her energy, while exploring what was next for her professionally. Besides her two regular days of teaching, Mary was also on call and able to commit to extra days of teaching as a substitute teacher.

During one of our coaching calls, she had just suffered through a week with two extra days of teaching. Mary felt exhausted, numb and disconnected by the end of the week. She felt torn. While her family needed the income that these additional days of teaching afforded her, she knew that every added day of teaching further depleted her energy. Less energy was left for her to work towards her bigger goal: finding a career that energizes and inspires her.

Together we explored how she could create more joy and ease in her life to help her with achieving her bigger goal. The first thing Mary said was to only work two days a week. She also wanted to plan a camping weekend with her family, get together with her girl friends, go for runs more often, practice yoga daily, and plan a getaway with her husband, something they hadn’t done in years.

Here’s how Mary got clear on ‘How much is enough?’

I could sense that Mary was getting more and more excited about her weeks and months ahead as she continued sharing the things she longed to do. I asked her “What do you need to make this a reality?” Mary realized that she needed to ask herself: How much is enough? She decided to create a family budget for the months to come, based on the income they had available without her working any extra days.

Here’s how Mary got clear on how much is enough for her and her family:

A few days later Mary shared with me that once she had created a budget, she understood clearly that they had enough to live well without her working extra days. Moreover, she recognized that her extra work had also led to additional spending, such as eating out more often. Working more days in a job that was zapping her energy had a toll on her health, happiness and the well-being of her family. It wasn’t worth the extra earnings. Mary felt relieved and relaxed as she eased into her new-found freedom, knowing that as a family they had enough to support her through the time of finding a career that was right for her.

In freeing up time and energy, Mary transformed her career within weeks. She got clear that it wasn’t her profession as a teacher that was zapping her energy, it was the teaching environment. Once she gained that clarity, she found another teaching opportunity. She now job shares with another teacher in a smaller school that she loves.

So many of us spend way too much time feeling we don’t have enough. This feeling of ‘not enough’ usually leads you to compromise and deplete your energy even further. To break this viscous cycle, I invite you to take a moment to take stock of what you do have and how much is enough for you. This will free up energy and time to devote towards your most important goals.

Now that you are considering the question of how much is enough for yourself, let’s work together to get CLEAR on YOUR fulfilling career. 

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