Are You Giving Too Much and Not Getting Much In Return?

WARNING: It’s about to get nerdy.

When I studied economics in college I learned about the Law of Diminishing Returns, referring to the efforts we put in versus the return we get back.

For example, let’s say you haven’t eaten anything all day. If I give you an apple, you’ll devour it with extreme pleasure, right?

Now, I give you a second apple and since you’re probably still hungry, it’s enjoyable to eat… although not quite as much as the first one.

At this point, your hunger is just about satisfied (stay with the analogy, please) and I hand you a third apple, which you reluctantly eat (perhaps with some displeasure) and… although you have no desire to eat a fourth… I keep insisting and, of course, with each bite you receive less pleasure and become more and more nauseous.

Sorry. Really dumb example, but since I’ve already gone this far…

Just as your appetite progressively decreased, “the law of diminishing returns” has the same effect on every part of your life. Yes. E-v-e-r-y part of your life.

How do you find the point of diminishing return?

It’s easy to tell when our efforts are in vain when dealing with something quantifiable (such as with money, weight loss, time, etc). However, it gets tricky if you are involving intangibles, such as amount of happiness, fulfillment, quality of written work, and so on.

There isn’t a hard and fast rule to identify this. Obviously, if there is a radar that goes off whenever we hit the point of diminishing returns, that’ll make things a lot simpler

My advice? Use your gut feeling. Get a good sense of when you think you are not getting your worth of returns for the effort you are putting in. The best way to develop your gut is (1) keep building up your experience (2) constantly evaluate and exercise your gut every step of the way.

Exercise your gut and become conscious of the diminishing point. This will be an extremely important skill to use as you optimize your days and maximize not just your productivity, but also your happiness level.

Be aware of diminishing returns in your life

Are there any areas in your life where the law of diminishing returns is in action? Here are some examples:

• Health: When you lift weights, muscle tissue is torn and needs to heal itself by creating new muscle tissue. This in turn will have you looking more toned, defined, and stronger. However, if you consistently work out, your muscle tissues won’t have the chance to ever repair itself–doing more damage to your body than good.

• Career-Let’s say you’ve just started a new job and want to make a great impression by staying late after work for projects. Your worth will increase with your company, but over time your efforts will become nullified as you start hitting that bench mark of diminishing returns, thus, your bosses will then “expect” you to stay late after work–taking you for granted.
  • Are the additional hours you are spending at work justified with the additional work you finish?
  • Are you past the point where you can learn and grow in your current role? Is it time to request promotion/advancement?
  • Have you lost the passion for your work? Is it time to pursue something else you enjoy more?
• Relationships:
  • Are you trying to keep up with so many friends that you are losing balance in your other priorities?
  • Are you spending so much of your time with your partner that it has become an act of habit which does not result in increased fulfillment?
  • Are you investing too much time and effort into a relationship and not getting anything back?
• Daily life:
  • Are you sleeping more than necessary to become well-rested?
  • Are you watching TV/playing games/engaging in recreation beyond what you really enjoy?
  • Are you spending more time on facebook/twitter/social networking sites/forums than is necessary?

Some-things to think about…I know.

Have a great weekend-!

–Parker

Tagged as: Being relatable, clarity, Connecting, Conversation, Law of Diminishing Returns, Mingling

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