Curve of Choices

I first heard about the law of diminishing returns, when I was an Audiophile.

In simple terms, the law states that after a certain point, putting in more resources (money, time) is not going to give you proportional returns.

In audiophile terms, this means that spending 10x more (upgrading equipments) will not bring in 10x improvement in audio quality. The perceived improvement will be much lesser, compared to the resources spent. Chasing that small improvement may be beneficial for a few, but for the lot it would be a waste of their time or money.

This simple law, is not limited to audio geeks, but it is universal.

I would like to call it the “Curve of Choices”.

No matter what we tell ourselves, we have a choice in what we do, at any point of time.

Some choices we make strike a balance between our wants and our efforts, while some choices end up with us spending a disproportionate amount of resources for what we do not need.

• Spending top dollar to get the latest gadget.
• Spending enough to get a gadget for your needs.
• Skewing the work-life balance towards work.
• Focussing to get a work-life balance.
• Relentlessly pursuing an argument to have the last word.
• Apologising and moving on.
• Reacting instantly without control.
• Responding thoughtfully.
• Blind Materialism.
• Understanding what materialism is and trying to incorporate minimalism.
• Procrastinating.
• Being productive.
• Starting something stupid, something imperfect.
• Aiming for perfection, never starting.

Few of the above choices end up at the middle of the curve, the sweet spot between the efforts and returns, while a few of the choices end up at the disproportionate plateauing top.

There might not always be rights or wrongs, but there are always choices !!