When the Extraordinary Becomes Ordinary—A Lesson on Diminishing Returns for High Performance Leadership

Staying Mindful in Big Moments to Keep the Color from Fading

I’ll never forget my first time on stage at the Amazon Ignite meeting.

Thousands of other Delivery Service Partners. Bright lights. High stakes. My heart pounded with anticipation, but I was ready. I had prepared relentlessly—not just the content, but the energy. I felt a sense of calling. I was being seen, heard, recognized.

That moment lit me up from the inside.

The second time? Still meaningful—but the edge was softer.

By the third time, I noticed something had shifted. What had once felt electric now felt… expected.

It didn’t stop there. I’ve felt it again in boardrooms—presenting to leadership teams I once would’ve lost sleep over. That first board presentation? I was meticulous. Obsessed. Every slide was rehearsed, every question anticipated. But with each new meeting, something dulled. What used to feel monumental slowly became just part of the routine.

High performers, I know you know this feeling.

You close your first million in revenue. Your heart races.

You land the biggest client in your market. You cry in your car afterward.

But then? You keep growing, and strangely, you stop feeling it the same way.

This is the law of diminishing returns at work—not just in your business strategy, but in your spirit.

Psychologists call it “hedonic adaptation.” It’s our brain’s survival mechanism—getting used to the good, even the extraordinary, in order to keep functioning. But for leaders like us, it can be a slow erosion of meaning. We don’t feel the fire anymore. So we chase more—more success, more goals, more recognition—thinking we’ll feel that spark again.

During my recent trip to Chile, I experienced something even more surprising. The beauty was overwhelming. Day after day, hour after hour—cliffs, oceans, sunrises that looked photoshopped. Yet… by day eleven, it became hard to take in.

My body couldn’t absorb any more awe. Even paradise, when experienced too constantly, had begun to feel muted.

Eckhart Tolle once said, “If you were suddenly transported into paradise, it wouldn’t take long for your mind to find something wrong with it.” I felt that. Deeply.

But this isn’t a story about burnout or failure. It’s a reminder.

A reminder that mindfulness is the antidote.

Mindfulness keeps us present to the miracle in the moment—whether it’s your tenth big presentation or your hundredth boardroom pitch. It allows us to savor our achievements instead of speed past them. It slows down the brain’s habit of numbing out and helps us truly experience this one, right here.

The data backs it: mindfulness interrupts the patterns of adaptation. It helps us experience gratitude, joy, and emotional presence, even in repetition. It trains our attention to see freshness in the familiar.

At Greener Thumbs, our five-minute daily practices are designed for exactly this—to help leaders like you reconnect with your purpose, your breath, your life. Because high performance without presence isn’t leadership—it’s exhaustion dressed in success.

So no, you don’t need a bigger stage.

You need to bring your full self to the one you’re already standing on.

You don’t need more applause.

You need to remember why you stepped on that stage in the first place.

The law of diminishing returns will always try to flatten your experience. But mindfulness? That’s what brings the color back.

For more, join our vibrant community of millions at greenerthumbs.org where we practice five minutes of daily relaxation and mindfulness for a more lovely world.