It’s December 1997.

Seinfeld is midway through its ninth season and still at the peak of its powers.

Jerry Seinfeld, the show’s co-creator and star, is already making a record $1 million per episode. Jack Welch, the CEO of NBC’s parent company, hands him a slip of paper with a new number: $5 million per episode. One more season would pay him $110 million.

Easy decision, right?

Maybe for you or for me. But Jerry was thinking differently. 

The day after Christmas, the world learned that the ninth season would be the last. As he later explained:

“I really didn’t think about the money at all. I thought about the audience. How are they feeling? Where are they? I was trying to perceive it like a comedian on the stage. When you’ve been onstage for a pretty long time and they’re still screaming, if you can get off, they’ll scream even louder. They’ll never forget you. A small amount of ‘too much’ changes the whole feeling.”

When I heard this story on a recent episode of Acquired (which I highly recommend), I immediately recognized it as a pattern I’d seen before.

A good friend of mine grew up in a family that produced four Division I basketball players. Her dad was very hands-on in their development, and one of his guiding principles was to leave them wanting more. He was happy to end a workout, a practice, or even a season with his kids hungry for more, because that hunger kept them coming back.

My wife says something similar about family vacations: “You gotta go before it’s time to go.” I fought her on this at first. I later conceded she was right.

This principle is worth sharing because so much of modern life pushes us the other way:

• If six months of travel baseball is fun, 12 will be even more fun, right?

• If one month of Christmas is special, three months will be even more special, right?

• If one social media platform helps us feel connected, five will make us feel even more connected, right?

We rarely ruin good things by accident. We ruin them by reaching for a little more.

I think Jerry was onto something. A small amount of “too much” really can change the whole feeling.

At least that’s my view. I’d love to hear yours: 

1. Do you resonate with Jerry’s decision?

2. When have you ruined a good thing by reaching for too much of it?

3. Where are you one step away from a small amount of too much?

Carry on fellow travelers, we’ll talk soon.