Mule

I heard a really great phrase the other day. The context was chemotherapy medication but I think it can be applied elsewhere usefully - the "Optimal Minimum". Because chemotherapy can have negative consequences you can't just pile it on. You need to use the least amount with the most benefits. Why is being aware of the optimal minimum in life necessary? Because your life is a piggy bank.  When you withdraw energy to spend on something, it's gone.  You can fill it back up of course, but you can spend it too quickly.  And if that happens and you have nothing to spend progress ceases. You look for something cheaper.   Of course our reflex is "But mastery should always be the goal," "Don't be lazy" "pursuit of excellence" "All in or go home," or whatever else sounds good on a T-shirt. The internet is full of experts - people who dedicate their life to something, and that now becomes our new standard. But if that's what you want, you only get one of those things. Sure it's more attractive to hyperbolize everything you attempt.  But if we are being honest we aren't on track to be the most awesome at everything, and we would be much happier people if we learned how, and when, to say "good enough". I get the intensity,  that's my personality. But I enjoy a lot of things.  I like my family and friends, I like weightlifting and cycling, playing guitars and building guitars.   I don't have the ability to ride 100 miles, squat 405, run a business, give time to my loved ones, rip on guitar and run a business.  It's a math equation of Time To Proficiency and I don't have enough of it.  (Almost) no one does. You get one thing, and two lesser things. Everything else should be at your optimal minimum. The 80/20 rule is useful but I think it's thrown into everything possible as a formula. It sells books. That's not real life.  If you choose to pursue mastery in one area of life (a valid goal but not the only goal) then it's necessary to find the optimal minimum for other things in your life.  It. Is. Necessary. Learn to recognize it.