Diminishing Returns

I have never been the type of person to have a strict schedule, and the outcome of this is a rather spontaneous mentality, though there are things in which I feel that I must give more attention and time to. Those day-to-day activities that we believe can lead to better situations later on. And the Internet, as well as general media, is riddled with this idea of the grind. The ways in which people slave away at something to not end under the assumption that every second of it is worth it. But I have been a firm believer of the idea of diminishing returns, that realisation that at some point there's a moment in which the effort you put in no longer yields the expected rewards. A lot of the time this leads to us burning out, when the realisation of all that time and effort hits and we're left with the question of what it was all for in the first place. Now, this isn't to say that the idea of hard work and consistency is bad, but that we're all caught up in not only maintaining momentum, but trying to get it to new heights. As of late I have been slowly diving into a new set of ideas regarding my photography and videography, it's something that can take a lot of time to pursue as I have to venture around and create a portfolio, essentially. There's the time cost of having to take all of these photographs and videos, but also the patience cost of it all. In many cases if we're trying to pursue an idea of success, it requires building something and then the hardest part comes: waiting. Taking into consideration the typical idea of a business, no matter how fast you build something, you still have to wait for someone to take notice.

In most cases patience tends to be the hardest thing to deal with. It isn't the momentum you hold as you try and try to force something into play, but waiting for that moment to take place, no matter how much time it can take. A lot of people tend to give up at that point, but I feel the most damaging aspect of it all again falls back to the idea of diminishing returns. Hitting that ceiling in which there is nothing more you can really do. I think we all fail to realise that we each have our own pace in how we operate. Some of us are faster thinkers than others, some of us are better problem solvers than others. And even so there is still that wall that halts us as we assume we can go beyond. But do we notice it? Rarely. We instead perform an accidental pursuit of self-sabotage under the assumption that we're really doing some good for ourselves in the long run. If you're setting up an online store with the idea of selling a type of craft that requires creating something, then logically the least effective pursuit would be to spend all of your time creating the item to attempt to sell. Even with the odd sale here and there, you'd ultimately just be eating away at your own time and money on production cost. Lately I have had to remind myself of this idea, to tell myself that I don't need to be getting out every day and going on this huge adventures to find something to then sell. And here and there this shows some truth as the sales I have been getting have been rolling in months later under things I've listed with very little thought behind them.

I think another incredibly important aspect that many of us fail to consider that leads to rather rapid diminishing returns is that we fail to live. In many fields, living tends to be one of the most lucrative pursuits one can have. As we observe the world around us, understand it a bit more, as well as interact with people that not only have great ideas, criticism, or even just good company that leads to some experiences that sparks something new within you. I often remember that many artists say that one must draw every day in order to get good at drawing, but they add to this with the very strong message that this hard work goes nowhere if you have nothing to say, and those who have nothing to say tend to be those who have not lived. This is to say that a rather effective pursuit of growth in a field tends to be to simply step away from it for a while and return to it with a fresh mind that is filled with new inspirations and experiences, particularly if that time is spent looking at how other pursue similar ideas. While it does sound a bit counter-intuitive at first, this tends to be one of the best ways for me to go about dealing with something when I feel like I'm at that point where if I try to do something more, I'll crash. I think it's interesting how so many fields have terms for burnout, art block, writer's block, etc. These moments in which our minds just aren't working with the materials we have. The solution being to just step away from it all for a while

I write these ramblings from my kitchen at 7am while having just brewed some coffee. Over the past few weeks I've been pretty tired and dealing with poor sleeping habits to which I'm finally dealing with by not sleeping at night and staying up during the day. I have had a lot of guilt over not being productive, not pursuing things as fast and aggressive as I could be, to which I was also met with one of the best days in that photography selling I have had since I started. I often take breaks from things and realise the importance of understanding how easy it is to reach that point of diminishing returns. I often think that I might not be doing enough with my time, but then remember that this is a life meant to be lived, and what good is any of this if I can't have some fun between pursuing things?