Doing Too Much for Too Little in Return

In economics there is something called the law of diminishing returns. It basically states there is a point where a company can produce so much of something it produces negative results. In other words, more does not always equal profitability.

Life itself has a law of diminishing returns – attempting to do too much can be unprofitable. I was talking with my dad a while ago about various things. In the conversation he mentioned that kids are very active nowadays. Because they are very active they don’t have the proper down time to process whatever activity they just completed. Instead, they just move on to the next activity without having true appreciation of what they just accomplished. This is the law of diminishing returns at work.

Imagine if you will that you are learning how to paint. The instructor goes over brush strokes. After that you get in the car and head out to play basketball with your friends. The next day you have your cooking class where they teach you the cutting technique of julienne. After that class it’s time to learn how to play ragweed on the piano. The third day is less busy, you only have your French lesson. After that you can go home and relax. The business ramps back up on day four. You have your second cooking class of the week along with another piano lesson. Day five is just as busy with all the stuff to do around the house – laundry, mowing, cleaning, etc. Now, without looking back, what did you do in your art class?

If you can remember that along with everything else in that list you are an exception to the rule – kudos to you and keep up the awesomeness. But, for most of us the rule of diminishing returns is at work. Too much to do with no down time to process it does not produce the best results.

I’ll take myself as a case and point. In August my mom and myself were blessed to go to Ireland and Scotland. We booked our trip with a tour group. Our tour guide and driver were awesome guys. The amount of places we went to and saw were actually too much to enjoy thoroughly. We went to a lot of places and saw a lot of things but did not get much time at those places. For instance, we stopped in St. Andrews where golf was invented. We had just over 2hrs there of free time, which included eating lunch. We had enough time to see it but not enough time to enjoy it. This is the law of diminishing returns – doing too much and getting little in return.

This is the whole point of the saying “less is more.” If in Ireland/Scotland we had taken more time at less places I could have enjoyed it better. This does not mean I did not get anything out of the trip or that I did not enjoy it, I did, greatly. Overall though I would have enjoyed it even more if I had better quality time at fewer places.

So when you are thinking of what you should do, what kind of passions you should pursue by all means go for them! The whole point of Get to It! is about doing, moving, pursuing. Just know that there is a line of diminishing returns for each individual – too much and the quality of the experience goes down. Pursue, always pursue your passions. Simply make sure you don’t get caught doing too much for too little in return.

Attempt it. Chance it. Try it. Get to It!


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