When we enjoy something—an activity, an experience, a food, a beverage, a person—we want to have more of it.

If one of something is good, two would be better, right?

Maybe. But maybe not.

How do you know if having more of something is better?

The normal distribution curve (bell curve) gives us some insight into this. It ascends, reaches a peak, and then descends.

If you’re already at the peak and you add just one more thing, you may actually experience a negative effect. You may see performance or pleasure—whatever positive feeling you’re chasing—drop.

The question needs to shift away from increasing or decreasing, to what is the optimal level. Eating carrots is good for you, until you reach a carrot saturation point, and then it’s bad. (Steve Jobs reportedly turned a little bit orange after weeks of eating only carrots and apples.)

Smaller class sizes will aid in learning by increasing the individual attention to each child to a point, until you have too few kids, which decreases participation, which negatively impacts learning.

Kids always want one more. I hear it all the time. And I know I begged for one more all the time as a kid.  We get in the habit early on to ask for more. It’s the wrong question.

The better question is, What is the appropriate amount? What is the right fit? How do we optimize performance?