Life & The Law of Diminishing Returns
Before I start this piece of writing, let me pin down a disclaimer that I am not an economist, nor did I do many economic studies before. This is not about those boring financial bits (just kidding!), this entry is again based on my own life story.
I was rather young when I first encountered this principle. I was in grade 10, first year of high school and in my Econ class. Being an enthusiastic student then, finding this information was probably a moment of “eureka”for me. From the time I first read it, it’s been with me for so many years until now, and it has also been a principle that I hold on to in all sorts of situation through life.
It is rather comical how the most memorable life lesson I had was in a rather dirty class with 39 other students, reading it on a worn textbook. What actually is “The Law of Diminishing Returns”? To put it simply, it is a theory which predicts that after the optimal level of capacity, adding an additional factor of input will actually result in smaller increases in the output. To put it simply, this law basically says that after a certain point, if we do something the same way over and over it will not increase the expected return, but in fact reduce it.
Now, how do we make this about life? Implementing a theory about one field of study into a lot of unrelated circumstances perhaps may sound absurd to experts, but as a raging teenager back then, it has actually helped me greatly through some of the lowest points of my life. With this economic concept in mind, I have unconsciously learned to let myself heal and move on. Because whatever we’re going through, no matter how much effort that life gives to break us, we will reach a point where it won’t work anymore. Maybe we are not invincible, but as humans we learn to adapt. Our species have adapted and evolved through so many centuries, and frankly we still do that on a daily basis too.
Whenever I have something that seems to bring me to my knees, I always remember that one day this too shall pass. That it will hurt until it doesn’t, so all I have to do is to let myself feel because the first step towards healing is acceptance and you can’t accept something if you don’t let yourself feel. I am and have always been a feelings advocate. I always tell everyone that emotions are not a flaw, and you have to process them in order to move forward in life.
Back to the Law of Diminishing Returns itself, I realise that through it I have learned the art of going with the flow. Be like water, Bruce Lee once said and yes I do agree. Because no matter what life brings us, whether it’s happiness or sadness, we have to remember that everything is fleeting. If you think about it in a positive way, it can be wonderful. The beauty of life lies in how you live it anyway.
