The most important graph in the world (or at least the concepts that attach to it) is that of the inverted U curve. This is otherwise known as the bell curve.
The explanation for this and the significance of this is much better and more eloquently describe by Malcolm Gladwell in the book ‘David and Goliath’ and there is a blog about this here.
In essence, it applies to almost anything that you can measure of any significance and I use it when I’m teaching to describe the standard deviation of incompetent, exceptional and competent practitioners (80% competent in the middle, 10% exceptional at the right and 10% incompetent at the left)
It also though applies to impact and quality of things measured based upon numbers of production but let me explain that because that is gobbledygook. Take Malcolm Gladwell’s explanation of class size for example and apply it to the picture of the graph. Clearly a class size of 40 on the right hand side of the graph is on the downward curve. Too many people in the class: quality of education suffers but this almost certainly is also the case for classes that are too small due to the loss of dynamic and the inability for people to hide who don’t want to participate. Class sizes of 12 are on the upward part of the curve but too low down and infact are at the same level of quality as the class size of 40. (Gladwell will show you that this has been proven with educational research)
The graph also applies to exercise, not little = not enough benefit and health still affected but too much = health adversely affected due to over exercise.
The graph applies to rest: too little / too much.
But the two significant thins for me in my personal situation are the following:
- Quality of treatment provided against number of implants placed. Too few dental implants provided = not good enough to provide any quality.
Too many implants placed in a year = quality reduces due to ‘conveyer belt approach’
- Finally, the most important graph in the world… income vs happiness. Instinctively everybody knows this but very few people talk about it. Over a certain level of income happiness does not increase (there are good arguments to say that it decreases) The number currently touted around by experts in the literature is about £50,000 joint income per household in the UK. Below this level there are plenty of things to struggle with but above this level everybody has enough to have a house, a car and a holiday. So over £50,000 which is in the middle of the peak of the graph, the increased amount of money does not lead to an increased amount of happiness. It often leads to a decrease in time, an increase in stress, more stuff in your life which takes more maintenance and more space. It’s hard to hit the spot in the middle of the graph for anything that you do or measure but it is certainly worth the effort to try.
Blog Post Number: 914
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