The kind of peak and then down fall you describe and is depicted in your 3rd graph is a perfect example of the law of diminishing returns. Basically, there is a point at which an input produces a lower output than was produced by the input before that. So, as you stated, practice (the input) is super beneficial but only to the point where it no longer makes you a better player (output). At that point you start to see the results diminish instead of continue improving and going upward.

I love the idea of taking that concept and applying it to the real decisions we are making in business today. There are so many areas where this can be applied, of which you named some great ones. An area I always think about in this way is technology, especially in the work setting. For example, Slack is great, email is great, Zoom is great, but HubSpot is … good to a degree. A lot of time and effort has to go into training for new technology and the adoption rate is always sub par so some people in the company are using it while others arent- which creates a mess and thus leads to less output rather than more.

Thanks for writing this article, it’s great to keep these concepts in mind when building a business or working within one!