When Is it Enough? What Is Enough?
Have you asked yourself this question?
The question has been echoing in my mind lately: When is it enough?
And maybe more to the point: What is enough?
Enough what?
Enough success? Enough knowledge? Enough hustle? Enough likes, clicks, posts, praise, money, goals checked off, or boxes packed? Enough healing? Enough time?
We live in a world that never seems to stop. If you slow down, you’re falling behind. If you pause to breathe, someone else “wins.” But here’s a radical idea: maybe enough isn’t about competition or accomplishment at all.
Maybe enough is about alignment.
Enough, According to Who?
Most of what we chase isn’t even ours. We inherit expectations—from family, industry, media, society, even algorithms. We’re taught to measure ourselves against manufactured yardsticks that move the moment we get close.
In real estate, for example, “enough” often looks like volume. More listings. Bigger teams. Flashier branding. But is that really what our clients need from us? Is that what we need from ourselves?
When I coach and teach agents, I often ask: Who do you want to be in this business?
Not what do you want to do—but who. And why?
Because integrity doesn’t scale easily. Professionalism doesn’t show up on a leaderboard. And treating your clients like people, not leads, doesn’t always win awards. But it builds something far more lasting: trust. A reputation. A career that doesn’t burn you out or sell you out.
Defining "Enough" for Ourselves
I’ve had many chapters—musician, educator, curriculum designer, and now real estate professional and trainer. Each one brought me closer to a different kind of enough. Not the external kind, but the kind that feels like a breath out.
I used to think more was the path. And in some seasons, it needed to be. I was building. I was proving. I was learning. But eventually, you hit a wall where more doesn’t mean better. It just means busier. It just means distracted.
Now, I want to create things that matter. Teach what I believe. Help agents become better—not just better producers, but better people in this work. Empower buyers and sellers to walk into a real estate transaction with their eyes wide open.
That feels like enough—because it’s in service of something real.
When Is It Enough?
Here’s a different way to frame it: When do I feel at peace with what I’ve given?
That’s the question I return to. It’s not about whether the world claps. It’s about whether I can sit with myself at the end of the day and say, Yes. That was honest. That was aligned. That was mine.
If I taught one person something that shifted their thinking today, that’s enough.
If I showed up fully present in a conversation, that’s enough.
If I walked away from a project knowing I gave it care, thought, and truth—that’s more than enough.
A Note to You, Reader
If you’re reading this and feeling the monotonous sound of “not enough” in your own life—pause. Step off the treadmill, even for a moment. Ask yourself not what should I be doing, but what matters to me now?
You may find your own version of “enough” is already within reach—and has nothing to do with what anyone else expects from you.
And if no one’s told you this lately:
You don’t have to earn your worth.
You don’t have to outrun yourself to be successful.
You don’t have to chase “more” to be enough.
Let’s redefine the scoreboard.
Not by how loud we are, but by how true we are.
Not by what we accumulate, but by what we stand for.
Not by constant growth, but by intentional direction.
Because enough isn’t a finish line. It’s a feeling.
And you’ll know it when you arrive.
🖋 Ruth Catchen
Helping raise the bar in real estate, one thoughtful shift at a time.