A video did the rounds this week and it hit a nerve for a lot of founders. The line that stuck: if the goal is to always increase revenue, it's a fallacy. You never get there. You never arrive. It's just an ongoing infinite number.
He's right. The milestone treadmill is real. You hit the number you swore would be enough, and the number moves. $1M becomes $5M becomes ten. The finish line was never a line. It was a horizon, and horizons walk backwards as you approach them.
The video's answer is to stop chasing the number and build a business that just lets you live your life. Run it for enjoyment. Hit that today instead of chasing a figure you'll never reach.
I agree with almost all of it. But there's a second half to this that nobody wants to say out loud.
The Thing in the Comments
Read the comments under that video and you find the same confession over and over. One guy scaled an eight-figure business as a director with a stake in it. His words: it was never enough. Every milestone he hit filled nothing. Then he worked out what he actually needed to earn to provide for his family and enjoy life, and it was far less than he ever thought.
That is the trap in one sentence. Chasing a number that was never the point, sacrificing the years while you do it, and feeling nothing when you hit it.
So the advice writes itself: figure out your real "enough", build a business that delivers it, and go live. And for most people, that is exactly the right answer.
For most people.
Not Everyone Is Built the Same Way
Here is the part that gets left out. Not everyone is built for growth. And that is completely fine.
Some operators want a business that runs, pays them well, and gives them their life back. That is a legitimate, intelligent, honest goal. If that is you, chase it hard and do not let anyone shame you into a bigger number you do not actually want. The worst outcome in business is spending a decade climbing a mountain you never wanted to be on.
But some of us are wired differently. And pretending we are not is its own kind of lie.
Why "You Never Arrive" Is the Wrong Complaint
The video frames "you never arrive" as the problem. For me it is the entire point.
I have a growth mindset, so I do not think it ever stops. Growth is innovation plus marketing, and innovating and marketing are hobbies to me, so I am screwed. I will be building and creating forever. That is not a burden I am trying to escape. It is the thing I would do whether or not anyone paid me for it.
The mistake is assuming everyone who never arrives is suffering. Some people never arrive because they are chasing a number that fills nothing. Those people should stop. But some people never arrive because the building itself is the joy. For them, "arriving" would be the actual tragedy. What would you do the next morning?
A true growth mindset does not mean you are running from a finish line. It means there isn't one, and you made peace with that a long time ago. You are not climbing to get to the top. You climb because climbing is what you do.
The Question That Sorts It Out
So the real question is not "should I chase growth or enjoy my life?" That is a false choice. The real question is: which one are you?
Ask yourself honestly. If you woke up tomorrow with more money than you could spend, what happens next? If the answer is a beach and a clear calendar, then the video is right and you should build the business that buys you that beach as fast as possible. Stop chasing a number. Define your enough. Go.
But if the answer is that you would be building something new by the afternoon, then your enough was never a number either. It was the work. And a business run purely for leisure would bore you into the ground inside a year.
Both answers are correct. The failure is not knowing which one is yours, and living the wrong one because someone on the internet told you their answer was the answer.
Where I Land
Four businesses, three young kids, and I still work like I haven't made it. Not because a number is chasing me. Because I genuinely love the work, and I built a life where the work gives me energy instead of taking it.
That is my version of the video's point. Enjoyment is the real goal, and you can hit it today. I just define enjoyment differently. For me, enjoyment is building. So I get to arrive every single day and never arrive at all, at the same time.
Figure out which one you are. Then build for that, and stop apologising for it.