The Law Of Diminishing Returns

The law of diminishing returns is one of the pearls I took away from my beloved economics professors, Andy Kozak and Don Stabile, back in “phase one” of college. 

I really don’t have too many memories of my undergraduate years because they are clouded behind the smoky, noisy, beer-soaked overtones of each Thursday night at “The Green Door” which is still the local watering hole for St. Mary’s College students twenty something years later.  But I digress…

The law of diminishing returns or “diminishing marginal returns” occurs when some factor is added to the production of a product or service with all the other factors remaining constant and by adding that factor it actually decreases productivity.  Like having too many cooks in the kitchen or too many workers on an assembly line.  Remember Laverne and Shirley on the assembly line at the brewery?  If you don’t you are too young to care about this stuff and if you do then you get the picture below.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of letting go of stuff and I really do mean stuff because I think my “stuff” is cramming up my Chi and to be honest the “Feng Shui” in my house is pretty pathetic.  I am on day 19 of my 30 days of yoga and it’s going great.  I can’t believe how making the space in my day for an “unrushed” yoga practice has given me lots of opportunities to reflect on other goodness. 

The poison darts are still flying but I am standing gracefully while they whiz past.  I credit my deep psoas stretches and stubborn nature to stick to my commitments for having kept me on track.  The Universe has a subtle way of speeding past at an alarming rate.  Sometimes the only thing we can see are the shiny, pretty things as they go by.  Pretty people, shiny cars, pretty stuff.  Then we miss what is.

Truth:  When I first started all this business 4 years ago I told God that I secretly wouldn’t care if I had to give up all my worldly possessions and go live in an ashram and feed poor people and scrub floors to gain some insight.  Well, I lied.  I am terrified of giving stuff up.  I leave unfinished business all over the place.  I can’t commit.  I think if I say no I might miss out on something.  I am the biggest pack rat.  I keep rocks.  ROCKS!  I am hopeless when it comes to attaching nostalgia to material possessions.  I want my kids to stop growing.  Where are they on a Friday night?  Not here!  But they know I am here and that is a very big deal.  I am chilling and sussing out all this business of risky behavior and growth.

Don used to use “Guns and Butter” when micro or macro or whatever economics he was teaching called for it.  That was supply and demand (see, I did learn something).  I say the law of diminishing returns is showing me that by giving stuff up I’m gaining productivity.  I can be of service.  I can move forward.  I have to do this little by little.  Baby steps.  But that’s OK.  I’m on the right path.  Two of my favorite quotes about that are here:

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

“A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Om Sweetcakes...