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The law of increasing returns

September 22, 2008 By Seth Leave a Comment

My mind is still on the Olympics, even though it took placenearly a month ago.  I'm fascinated by the ability of a person to perform under such pressure and still perform well.  When I have to get up in front up people, particularly in areas where I'm not confident, I can just feel myself tense up.  With thousands of eyes on a competitor, how can he or she still perform at such an incredible level?  I think it has to do with the law of increasing returns.  Now I'm not sure if that's a real law or if I'm using the right trade name, but for my purposes here it makes sense to me.  See, the more I practice my guitar, the better I get at it.  The more I ride a bike, the better I get.  The more an Olympic gymnast practices his routine, the easier it is for him to do it.  That ease continues increasing as long as the effort continues being put forth.  During one Olympic event, the commentator said that the competitor had practiced one particular move over 1000 times!  No wonder the competitor was able to perform when it really mattered.  His event had become second nature to him. 

Here's where I am going: shouldn't our faith be second nature?  Shouldn't we have "practiced" our relationship with God so many times that it just becomes natural?  I hear people say sometimes that they want to trust God more.  Well the answer isn't to wish that it will happen, the answer is to spend time with God.  With relationship comes trust.  The stronger the relationship the stronger the trust.  But it doesn't happen overnight.  By not spending time with God the opposite happens – trust is lost (the law of diminishing returns). 

We live in an instant culture that wants what it wants NOW.  The truth is that sometimes it takes time, and it takes repetition.  And over that time and repetition the returns increase and you can look back and see the results.  People who are only satisfied with immediate results never get to benefit from the law of increasing returns.

September 22, 2008 10:00 pm Seth Leave a Comment

About Seth

Seth is a pastor, author, and speaker who lives in Batesville, Indiana. He is married to Kari, and they have two daughters, Madelyn and Noelle.

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Seth is a pastor, author, and speaker who lives in Batesville, Indiana. He is married to Kari, and they have a daughter, Madelyn.

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