Copied from a George Mack blogpost
1. Don’t ask your barber if you need a haircut.
2. “I can fix the $32 trillion US debt problem in 5 minutes. You pass a law that when there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members congress are ineligible for re-election” – Warren Buffett
3. 33% of British criminals were dying en route to Australia in the 1700s.
Britain switched from paying sea captains for every passenger who walked on the ship to paying them for every passenger who walked off.
Immediately, the survival rate shot up to 99%.
4. How to waste your time: Try to defy the laws of physics — or try to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
5. “Never attribute to conspiracy what is more easily explained by incentives and incompetence.” – Naval
6. During the 1980’s, the government of Athens came up with an idea to limit pollution: Odd-numbered and even-numbered license plates.
On dates with an odd number, the odd plates could drive. And vice versa.
The rich people just bought another car — with even worse emissions. The streets got more jammed and the pollution got worse.
7. “If you reward profits alone, it’s the dumbest thing you could do. Employees will quit advertising and start shrinking the business” – Buffett
8. If video games teach us one thing: If you want to motivate humans, frequent rewards are more addicting than one-off rewards.
9. In Hungary, every woman who gives birth to 4 children or more never has to pay income tax.
Prediction for the next 2 decades: As populations decline, every government will be focused on child-bearing incentives.
10. “I think I’ve been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I’ve underestimated it. And never a year passes but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther.” – Munger
11. If a person tells you why their thing is great (city, relationship, or job) – take it with a pinch of salt.
If they tell you why it’s terrible – take it like a handful of gold.
If someone swims upstream against their identity and incentives, it probably holds some deep truth.
Option 1 – Make the pain of inaction > Pain of action
Option 2 – Make the pleasure of action > Pleasure of inaction
The person with a gun to their head and crack cocaine at the finish line doesn’t need motivation.