You get di raise, or di promotion, or di client wey you chase for one year. You dey right to want am and you dey right to go get am. Then, about two weeks later, you notice something wey annoy small: di target don quietly move again, and you don already dey measure yourself against new number wey you never actually choose.
Dat no be greed and e no be character flaw. Na wetin dey happen to any number wey nobody ever write down. Target wey no get name dey drift, and wetin e dey drift towards na whatever di people wey dey close to you look like say dem dey earn.
To name your own number dey fix dat, and e no dey fix am by asking you to want less. Enough na target, no be lid, and na di figure wey dey tell you which effort you aim at your own life and which one you aim at another person own.
How I go take work out how much money enough for me?
Describe one ordinary Tuesday wey you go happily live again, then price di month wey dat Tuesday imply. Na your enough number be dat, and e dey work because you build am from life wey you actually want, no be from figure wey you hear somewhere.
Do am for dat order and e go take about forty minutes. Write di Tuesday first, with real detail and for present tense. Where you wake up. Wetin you chop. Whether you dey commute, and how. Wetin your body do dat day, because one hour of training na real line with real cost and if you leave am out you go get number wey you no fit live on. Who you see for evening. Wetin you no need worry about.
Then price am. Add up di month wey dat Tuesday imply: house rent, food, transport, health, di training, di childcare, di trips, and one line for di irregular things wey everybody dey forget. Round am up, no round am down. Di output na one monthly figure and one sentence wey describe di day. Two things, both written, both dated.
Why di number dey keep moving once I reach there?
Because if you no choose figure, you go use di people around you as measuring stick, and di people around you dey keep changing as you dey climb. Dis one well documented, e no be personal weakness.
One study across 109 nations wey dem publish for Nature Communications find say for 80 percent of dem, wellbeing dey track person income rank inside dem own country more strongly than dem absolute income. Na di mechanic behind di moving target be dat. Every promotion dey put you inside slightly different room, di rank dey reset, and di number wey you dey unconsciously chase dey go up with am. Nobody decide am. E just dey happen to anybody wey never name im own figure.
Di written number na di defense, and e cheap. Once your enough number dey exist, new room no fit silently change am. You fit still choose to raise am, deliberately, on purpose, with reason. Wetin you no fit do again na make lunch conversation raise am for you.
Money really dey continue to make life better?
For most people, yes, and na why dis article no dey end with suggestion say make you stop. Two of di best studies on di matter reach different answers, then di authors sidon together reconcile dem.
Di 2010 paper by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton for di Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences find say how people dey evaluate dem life dey keep rising with income, while dem day-to-day emotional wellbeing look like say e dey level off. One 2023 paper for di same journal by Matthew Killingsworth, Kahneman and Barbara Mellers revisit am as adversarial collaboration and resolve di conflict: for most people happiness dey continue to rise with income well beyond di earlier ceiling, and di flattening turn out to concentrate inside di least happy fifth of people.
Read dat honestly and e dey talk two things at di same time. To go after more no be fool errand, and di returns real. And di size of di return depend heavily on wetin dey happen underneath, wey be di part wey number on im own no fit fix. So name di target, then go after am, and keep di underneath in working order while you dey do am.
Di money wey dey above di line dey for wetin?
Another person. Na di whole answer be dat and na di section wey most articles about enough never dey reach, because target wey no get anything above am na just ceiling wey wear better name.
Once you get monthly figure, di interesting question stop to be “how much” and become “wetin di surplus dey for.” Decide dat one before time too, inside di same forty minutes, because surplus wey no get work attached go find one by itself and e go usually be another upgrade. Our founder version na proof here, no be suggestion: e talk say giving back na another secret of im success, say e dey constantly look for chance to coach, train, advise, lift up, commend and champion di people inside im sphere, and say wetin come back na tenfold. E do am di whole way up, while e still short of money and standing, no be once e don arrive.
Practically, di surplus no be only money. Na di introduction wey you for keep. Na di afternoon of di skill wey dem dey pay you for. Na di junior colleague wey you tell wetin you actually dey earn. Na di name wey you talk inside room wey dem no dey. To decide dat before time na wetin dey turn enough from limit to plan, and na why dis exercise suppose leave you with more ambition than wetin you start with, no be less. You no dey name number so you go stop. You dey name am so you go sabi wetin di rest dey for.
Wetin if my number still far?
Then you get di most useful thing wey ambitious person fit get, wey be specific target and real gap. Gap wey get name na plan wey dey wait make dem write am. Gap wey no get name na just low background hum.
Break am once. Wetin be di gap per month, and which of di three levers go close am: earn more, spend differently, or wait longer while something dey compound? Most people go find say di answer na mostly di first one, wey be good news, because to earn more na di lever wey get di highest ceiling and na di one wey dis whole pillar dey built to help with. Then pick di single next action and put date on am, because gap wey no get date attached na wish.
And no shave di number down so you go feel better dis afternoon. Target wey you quietly lower na target wey no go motivate you next spring, and you go sabi say na you do am. Di honest number, even if e three years away, dey do more work pass comfortable one for twelve months.
Write am down and put date on am
Two lines on one page. Di monthly figure. Di Tuesday, for one sentence. Then di date wey you write dem, because number wey no get date na number wey you no go notice dey drift.
Look am once every quarter and ask one question: dis still be di day wey I want? Sometimes e no go be. People dey change, pikin dey come, body dey change, ambition dey grow bigger instead of smaller. To raise your number on purpose no be say you fail di exercise, na di exercise dey work, because di point never be restraint. Di point na say di figure na your own and you sabi when e move.
Wetin you dey get for dose forty minutes na di thing wey dey make twenty years of hard work survivable, and e no be calm for di sense of slowing down. Na aim. You go negotiate differently when you sabi exactly wetin you dey negotiate towards. You go talk no faster to work wey dey pay well but point nowhere. And you go go harder for di work wey dey close di gap, because for di first time you fit see di gap dey close. Na wetin enough dey for be dat. No be to want less. Na wanting wey you aim better, and you hold am steady long enough to actually arrive.
Sources
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PubMed Central), Income and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PubMed Central), High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being
- Nature Communications (PubMed Central), Social status and the relationship between income rank and well-being in 109 nations