We’ve all started workout programs with great passion. Sometimes we plan to work out every day, maybe even two-a-days. We start these ventures with great zeal. The vast majority of times that we start too quickly and too intensely, we either burnout or hurt ourselves. Not a good thing. Hopefully, we learn something from these “cycles”.
Would you start your car when it is zero degrees outside and immediately put the pedal to the metal? The car wouldn’t last very long with that regular treatment. I sure wouldn’t want the car payments for the individual who does that!
Suppose you ran into a windfall of cream filled doughnuts (my favorite), say 15 boxes. Would you gorge yourself for two days on these delicious treats? I wouldn’t unless I wanted to feel like a piece of you know what for a week.
We learn over time that too much of a good thing is really bad. Sort of like a calculus problem, we reach a certain level of satisfaction and “the marginal rate of return” diminishes. Unlike calculus, the return becomes, not just progressively smaller, but negative, really negative.
In so many areas now days, people, organizations and businesses, push the envelope to get the maximum out of their efforts. The result is often injuries and broken organizations.
Take an example of business incentives. Lots of times, incentives are put in place to “maximize” productivity in some way. What happens? Well, a lot of odd things happen. Sometimes, people start doing things that maximize their “returns” to the great demise of the organization’s objectives. Sometimes people are hurt and an adversarial environment is established. Anyone with significant experience has seen this played out multiple times.
In my experience, I have found that balance is the most important key in life. The answer is always somewhere between the extremes.
Take investments, I believe Warren Buffett usually buys stocks and companies that make steady and continuous profits versus those that make high profits quickly but blow up quickly. It’s like the story of the tortoise and the hare.
For me, I always focus on balance. The “optimal point” that achieves the best benefit is different for everyone, but generally, it’s somewhere between “too hot” and “too cold”.
Next time you think of doing something to an extreme, remember balance is the most essential ingredient to success. Don’t eat all those cream filled donuts in one fell swoop (although the thought is enticing)! Just savor one or two and embrace the moment. Like economics, everything has a diminishing marginal rate of return
Be smart, be well-read, be self-aware and be successful.
