2005-12-27 When is "just enough" enough?

Everyone wants to succeed. But in a world where corporate CEOs carve out multimillion dollar contracts and Britney Spears is front-page news, society’s view of success is entirely skewed. Authors and Harvard faculty members Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson take a hard look at idealized celebrity success and adopt a view that is the opposite of the popular attitude that promotes going for the maximum. Instead, they advocate learning how to be satisfied with "just enough." Through careful self-examination and structured fulfillment exercises, the authors explain how to obtain success in four main areas of your personal and professional life: happiness, achievement, satisfaction and legacy. Ironically, for a book titled ‘Just Enough,’ it supplies way too much verbiage and analysis. But we find the topic timely and well researched. Those who are striving for balance and just the right amount of success will find this self-help book extremely useful, although those who deeply want it all may be tougher to dissuade.