Principles 02

Welcome to Episode 302,

where we are looking at financial success stories by asking a question people sometimes forget until much too late.

What happens after the thing we are planning actually happens? A decision can look wonderful in isolation and considerably less wonderful once its relatives arrive.

I object already, because I prefer my consequences individually wrapped and clearly labeled.

If a decision brings friends, dependents, and unexpected overnight guests, somebody should disclose the guest list before I let it into the house.

Disclose the guest list? Don't you like Rachel?

Yeah, don't you like me?

Huh? Rachel, you know, the one who is delighted when she discovers she can afford the monthly payment on a much more expensive car.

That's me.

Before buying it, she asks what else changes afterward, including insurance, registration, maintenance, and the amount of flexibility remaining every month.

Rachel has committed the unforgivable offense of continuing the calculation after receiving the answer she wanted.

I normally stop doing arithmetic the moment the arithmetic becomes emotionally supportive.

rachel still buys a car she likes but she chooses one that leaves the rest of her financial life enough room to breathe her success isn't deprivation it is recognizing that the price attached to a decision may be only the first thing the decision costs I appreciate the distinction, because deprivation would require me to defend luxury heated cup holders as a fundamental human right.

I am prepared to make that argument, although all those constitutional scholars, they've stopped returning my calls.

Perhaps you should stop making them from payphones then.

What's a payphone, man? Tell you later, Fogg.

Our second story belongs to Anthony, who is offered a higher-paying position with a much longer commute and considerably less control over his schedule.

Instead of comparing two salaries, he compares two lives and notices that the larger number purchases some things while quietly taking others away.

Unless you don't study math, that is.

Comparing two lives seems unfair when one spreadsheet cell clearly has the larger number.

Numbers enjoy winning cleanly, while commute time keeps barging into the competition wearing sweatpants and complaining about traffic.

An optimist says that the glass is half full.

A pessimist says that the glass is half empty.

But Excel says that the glass is January 2nd.

Get it? Anthony accepts the position because the additional income matters to him, but he negotiates two remote days before saying yes.