What if the harder you work, the worse your results become without you ever noticing the moment it happens? Most people assume that more effort automatically creates more success. But Illich’s Law exposes a truth hidden in plain sight: after a certain point, every extra push quietly reduces your clarity, drains your energy, and lowers the quality of your output. This isn’t laziness. It’s physics. It’s biology. It’s the invisible curve shaping every act of effort you make. Signal: Illich’s Law is your guide to seeing this curve clearly for the first time and learning how to work with it instead of against it. This book reveals the neuroscience behind performance decline, the psychology of overextension, and the nervous system limits modern culture refuses to acknowledge. Through vivid tools, practical maps, and emotionally intelligent insight, you’ll learn how to stop before your peak turns into a plunge. Inside, you’ll discover: The Effort Curve Awareness Map - a visual framework that shows exactly where your effort begins to help, where it peaks, and where it starts to hurt your results. The Stop Point Calibration Map - how elite performers stop early to avoid eroding their best work. The Enoughness Calibration Journal - a guided tool that teaches you how to sense “enough” in your body, not your mind. The Capacity Expansion Workshop - a full system for safely expanding your bandwidth without overextension. You will learn why: • More effort after the peak does not add value, it actually destroys it. • Overworking is often emotional avoidance disguised as discipline. • Clarity, creativity, and precision thrive in rhythm and not grind. • True mastery depends on stopping at the right moment, not pushing harder. • Capacity grows only when you honor your limits, not violate them. Through powerful metaphors, science-backed insights, and real case studies, you’ll understand why collapse is not a sign of weakness... it’s the predictable consequence of ignoring the curve. This book will change the way you work, think, create, rest, and make decisions. Most importantly, it will show you how to protect your peak so you can produce your best work without sabotaging your well-being. If you’ve ever felt like you’re working harder but producing less… If you’ve ever wondered why your clarity vanishes right when you need it most… If you’ve ever hit the wall and blamed yourself for not being “disciplined enough”… This book is your reset. Protect your peak. Stop before the decline. Work in rhythm. Your best work lives just before the curve bends.