Originally published July 9, 2014

How do we discern Diminishing Returns?  How do we actually assess how much is too much, how many activities can my family handle?

I think there are two sides to this coin.

What do you gain?

The purpose of participating in any activity is to gain something in your life.  Sometimes that is simply the joy of friendship, or to learn something new, to exercise, recreate ourselves.

What do you lose?

For every choice we make, we forgo something else.   Opportunity Cost.
The idea is simple and useful when applied to making everyday decisions about how best to spend limited time or money.  In family life, of course, there is limited time or money.  Or both.  Usually.  

There is, however, other losses that need to be considered.  Such as losing a grip on any kind of order because we are too busy.  Not being able to be nice to our kids because we are too busy.  Not having any clean laundry ever because we are too busy.  Having cranky kids because they are too busy, and/or cranky because we are being ratty at them.

Our profit margins have to be measured differently than that of a business, to be sure. 
Joy, kindness, order.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a look at some tools for assessment.