Meet Tom.

Tom is an aspiring copywriter with a family to support.

One day, through a referral, he lands the biggest project of his career—an opportunity to write for an up-and-coming startup.

To qualify for the position, Tom is required to write a proposal. He completes his first draft and after a week of revision, he decides it’s good enough to turn in.

Meanwhile, Richard, a recent marketing graduate, is applying for the same position.

Like Tom, he completes his first draft in under a week—but he’s dissatisfied with it.

Richard, you see, is a perfectionist. And like many perfectionists, he favors perfectionism over practicality.

He spends an additional two weeks trying to improve it and as a result misses his deadline.

Unbeknownst to Tom and Richard, Harry—a seasoned professional with years of experience meeting tight deadlines—is applying for the position, too.

He isn’t content with “good enough,” like Tom, nor is he willing to waste endless hours tinkering like Richard.

Instead, he settles for the sweet spot.

He puts in one additional day and does one more draft before the deadline, and then turns it in.

Who do you think will get the job?

“High Achievers Syndrome”

We all have goals we want to achieve.

We want to graduate from college, learn a language or a musical instrument, lose 14 pounds, write a New York Times bestselling book …

But in order to achieve those things, we need to take action.

This is obvious. It’s not enough to know what to do—you need to do what you know.

What I’ve realized, though, is taking action isn’t enough.

In fact, when taken without good reason, it’s a HUGE waste of time.

I call this, “high-achievers syndrome”: you believe doing more will help you achieve more …

… but it won’t.

The truth is anything beyond what you need to do as a minimum to achieve your goal is wasteful.

Let me explain…

The Exponential Curve of Excellence

The Exponential Curve of Excellence illustrates that the quality of your output improves with time and effort.

As you move closer toward perfection, though, the curve flattens out. You still yield improvements with time and effort. But the amount of improvement attained per unit of effort diminishes with each additional hour or day invested.

To illustrate this, further, let’s return to our previous example.

Tom, if you recall, settled for “good enough”. This places him at A on the graph.

Richard, our perfectionist, strived for marginal quality improvement. This places him at C on the graph.

Harry, on the other hand, pushed himself to do one more version—but not to the point where his extra effort produced a disproportionate improvement in his final draft.

As a result, Harry is awarded the job. Not because he worked harder. Rather, he worked smarter and knew when enough was enough.

The Exponential Curve of Excellence: In Practice

The Exponential Curve of Excellence goes beyond applying for copywriting jobs—it’s applicable to any goal you might have.

Take weight loss for example.

Imagine you want to lose 100 pounds. (See how one reader, Alex Dirdara, achieved that very goal here.)

You avoid sugar, count calories, get a weight loss buddy … and in the beginning, yield big results. You lose two pounds a week and feel good about yourself.

Over time, though, your subsequent efforts yield smaller and smaller results. You decide to do more exercise or more weight training or more research—only to find your minuscule returns are not worth the effort.

When you plateau, it’s easy to believe doing a ton more will help you overcome it, but it won’t.

What will, is pushing through The Dip, the temporary setback, by maximizing what you’re already doing—and then going a tiny bit further.

Here are a few more examples:

Entrepreneurship. Don’t invest 12 months validating a product/service if one will suffice. Validate it, refine it, create it and most important, “Ship” it. [1]

Music. According to Dr. Noa Kageyama, practice sessions limited to 60 minutes allow you to stay focused. If 60 minutes is at Point A, what would Point B look like for you? [2]

Writing. When you get to Point A, push yourself to do one more draft, one more revision. Work at it one more day or week, get to Point B on the Exponential Curve of Excellence—and stop.

Yes, going the extra mile is an asset, but going further than is necessary is a liability.

Know When Enough is Enough

There are two enemies of execution: inaction and perfectionism.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear and prevents you from achieving your goals. Perfectionism, while better than inaction, causes anxiety, tension, and stress.

The sweet spot, the margin of growth, is Point B.

Point B surpasses “good enough” and strives for perfection, but accepts it’s an impossibility.

Be at Point B.

Trust me. It’s not as crowded as you might think.