While doing some background research, I ran across this story by Robert Sutton on his great (and provocatively-titled) book, The No Asshole Rule, about the cost to organizations that tolerate such people. In the story, Kurt Vonnegut and The No Asshole Rule, Sutton shares the story behind a poem written by Vonnegut (author of Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions) about Joseph Heller (Catch 22).

Vonnegut and Heller were attending a party at a billionaire’s house, when Heller said to Vonnegut that he has something that the billionaire can never have. That is,

The knowledge that I’ve got enough.

Sutton writes:

If you read or watch TV programs about business or sports, you often see the world framed as place where everyone wants “more more more” for “me me me,” every minute in every way. The old bumper sticker sums it up: “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” The potent but usually unstated message is that we are all trapped in a life-long contest where people can never get enough money, prestige, victories, cool stuff, beauty, or sex – and that we do want and should want more goodies than everyone else.

This attitude fuels a quest for constant improvement that has a big upside, leading to everything from more beautiful athletic and artistic performances, to more elegant and functional products, to better surgical procedures and medicines, to more effective and humane organizations. Yet when taken too far, this blend of constant dissatisfaction, unquenchable desires, and overbearing competitiveness can damage your mental health. It can lead you to treat those “below” you as inferior creatures who are worthy of your disdain and people "above" you who have more stuff and status as objects of envy and jealousy.

Learn to say to yourself,
“I have enough.”

What are the three secret words that help lead to personal contentment in such a world? Learn to say to yourself, “I have enough.”

This secret is reinforced by the writer of Proverbs 30:7-9 (New International Version):

Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God

It’s also underscored by Paul in I Timothy 6: 6-10 (New International Version)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Cultivate contentment. I have enough.

And cultivate one more thing — gratitude — summarized in three more magic words: Thank you, Lord.