Are you striving for more when enough would be better?

As a champion for change, you know you are under strain. Considering what is enough could be the best thing to do now.

 Switching from thinking about what is enough interrupts the more or less cycle and takes you to a more contented place.

If you've read my post The Hidden Cost of Being the Champion of Change, something in it may have landed harder than you expected. Maybe you recognised the extra hours, extra vigilance, extra emotional labour you’ve been giving has been absorbed into the system and no longer feels optional. Maybe you want to say Enough is Enough! but don't know where to start. In this post, I'm going to ask you to stop right there and think about what enough means for you.

What is enough?

Being a champion of change in complex systems like healthcare makes you good at dealing with uncertainty, managing competing priorities, handling large amounts of data and advocating for others under pressure. You probably know what the service needs, what your patients deserve, what your colleagues expect and what leadership demands.

Champions rarely settle for enough because the expectation is for better. But better doesn't automatically mean more. The system we work in rarely rewards sufficiency. It rewards more: more training, more responsibility, more publications, more funding. Sometimes it’s the opposite: fewer complaints, fewer errors, less sickness. Enough is usually seen as a milestone on the way to something better, but what if best is so perfect it will always be out of reach? And what do you do if that quest for the unachievable is, quite literally, breaking you?

But better doesn't automatically mean more but the system we work in rarely rewards sufficiency.

You probably know a lot less about what you want and what would genuinely feel like enough for you.  The concept of enough tends to make champions uncomfortable because the qualities that made you a champion are the same ones that make it hard to accept.  You're credible and people trust your judgement. You have strong relationships across the organisation. You care deeply about the outcome.

All of those things make it feel impossible to say:

"I've given enough, it’s time to hand this over to someone else".

"I need enough support to do this properly".

"I don’t have enough of what I need to be happy and healthy right now”.

Switch your thinking

When champions reach the point of acknowledging that something needs to change, they often don’t know what to do next.  Switching from thinking about what is enough, instead of what perfection, interrupts the more or less cycle and takes you to a more contented place. 

Exploring enough is not a commitment to leave or to stay. It's an invitation to be specific about what matters to you, what you need in order to have it and what might be getting in your way. It’s the beginning of moving from "I know this isn't right" to "I know what right would look like for me."

In the next post: What Does "Enough" Actually Look Like - a structured look at an activity, the evidence behind it and seven reasons why it's worth 30 minutes of your time.

Do you need support to say enough is enough?

Are you preparing for your next appraisal or job plan meeting and not sure if it's time to step down or hand over your champion role? A one-to-one coaching session with me could give you the clarity and direction you need.

Book a free discovery call with me now or drop me a message on Linkedin