For some (including younger-me), the opposite advice was helpful—I’d agonize over “big” decisions, without realizing that the oft-repeated small decisions actually had a much larger impact on my life.
To account for that, I might recommend you notice cache-ability and repetition, and budget on longer timeframes. For monthly spending, there’s some portion that’s really $120X decade spending (you can optimize once, then continue to buy monthly for the next 10 years), a bunch that’s probably $12Y of annual spending, and some that’s really $Z that you have to re-consider every month.
Also, avoid the mistake of inflexible permissions. Notice when you’re spending much more (or less!) time optimizing a decision than your average, but there are lots of them that actually benefit from the extra time. And lots that additional time/money doesn’t change the marginal outcome by much, so you should spend less time on.
I wonder if your problem as a youth was in agonizing over big decisions, rather than learning a productive way to methodically think them through. I have lots of evidence that I underthink big decisions and overthink small ones. I also tend to be slow yet ultimately impulsive in making big changes, and fast yet hyper-analytical in making small changes.
Daily choices have low switching and sunk costs. Everybody’s always comparing, so one brand at a given price point tends to be about as good as another.
But big decisions aren’t just big spends. They’re typically choices that you’re likely stuck with for a long time to come. They serve as “anchors” to your life. There are often major switching and sunk costs involved. So it’s really worthwhile anchoring in the right place. Everything else will be influenced or determined by where you’re anchored.
The 1 minute/$25 + 2% of purchase price rule takes only a moment’s thought. It’s a simple but useful rule, and that’s why I like it.
There are a few items or services that are relatively inexpensive, but have high switching costs and are used enough or consequential enough to need extra thought. Examples include pets, tutors, toys for children, wedding rings, mattresses, acoustic pianos, couches, safety gear, and textbooks. A heuristic and acronym for these exceptions might be CHEAPS: “Is it a Curriculum? Is it Heavy? Is it Ergonomic? Is it Alive? Is it Precious? Is it Safety-related?”
For some (including younger-me), the opposite advice was helpful—I’d agonize over “big” decisions, without realizing that the oft-repeated small decisions actually had a much larger impact on my life.
To account for that, I might recommend you notice cache-ability and repetition, and budget on longer timeframes. For monthly spending, there’s some portion that’s really $120X decade spending (you can optimize once, then continue to buy monthly for the next 10 years), a bunch that’s probably $12Y of annual spending, and some that’s really $Z that you have to re-consider every month.
Also, avoid the mistake of inflexible permissions. Notice when you’re spending much more (or less!) time optimizing a decision than your average, but there are lots of them that actually benefit from the extra time. And lots that additional time/money doesn’t change the marginal outcome by much, so you should spend less time on.
I wonder if your problem as a youth was in agonizing over big decisions, rather than learning a productive way to methodically think them through. I have lots of evidence that I underthink big decisions and overthink small ones. I also tend to be slow yet ultimately impulsive in making big changes, and fast yet hyper-analytical in making small changes.
Daily choices have low switching and sunk costs. Everybody’s always comparing, so one brand at a given price point tends to be about as good as another.
But big decisions aren’t just big spends. They’re typically choices that you’re likely stuck with for a long time to come. They serve as “anchors” to your life. There are often major switching and sunk costs involved. So it’s really worthwhile anchoring in the right place. Everything else will be influenced or determined by where you’re anchored.
The 1 minute/$25 + 2% of purchase price rule takes only a moment’s thought. It’s a simple but useful rule, and that’s why I like it.
There are a few items or services that are relatively inexpensive, but have high switching costs and are used enough or consequential enough to need extra thought. Examples include pets, tutors, toys for children, wedding rings, mattresses, acoustic pianos, couches, safety gear, and textbooks. A heuristic and acronym for these exceptions might be CHEAPS: “Is it a Curriculum? Is it Heavy? Is it Ergonomic? Is it Alive? Is it Precious? Is it Safety-related?”