Define your "enough"

Decide in advance what enough looks like so acquisition has a finish line.

Why it works

Without a defined "enough", consumption is driven by hedonic adaptation: each acquisition resets the baseline, so satisfaction is always one purchase away. Naming a concrete sufficiency point in advance gives the wanting a stopping rule, converting an open-ended chase into a reachable, defendable target.

How to do it

1. For a category that pulls you (clothes, gadgets, books), write the specific number or set that is genuinely enough.
2. When tempted past it, name what the extra is really for — usually a feeling, not the object.
3. Revisit "enough" deliberately rather than letting it drift upward by default.

Evidence

Grounded in hedonic-adaptation research: the satisfaction from new possessions fades and the baseline resets, so more rarely delivers lasting gain. A pre-set sufficiency point counters that treadmill. (observational)

Hedonic adaptation is well documented; that a written "enough" reliably curbs it is plausible but not specifically trialed.

Sources

• Brickman & Campbell, hedonic adaptation / "hedonic treadmill" (satisfaction returns to baseline after gains)

Common mistake

Setting "enough" as a moving feeling rather than a fixed, written target, which lets the goalpost slide every time income or appetite rises.