Yeah, if you've done like GCSE maths or something, it's kinda
like taking an integral or whatever. But you don't need to think of it that way.
And so some events might, events contribute value in different ways, right? Some
events might have like a really high burst of value that lasts over a very short
period of time, I think like, going out for a nice meal or something like that,
you know, maybe you're eating this food for like an hour or something is really,
really nice while you're having it. But after the meal is done, that food isn't
really providing you much value. So it's like this, this burst of high value
that goes away quite quickly. Now, other things are less exciting, like there's
no burst of value, but it kind of sort of drips a small amount of value over a
very long period of time. Right?
And what I think is that when we, when we're evaluating different decisions,
when we're thinking about, oh how best should I spend my time or how best should
I spend my money, we actually have a bias towards thinking about sort of these
bursts of value events, you know, these events that have a high magnitude of
value, but don't last very long. So you might think of like going, going to
holiday to a really nice place. Oh yeah, I actually spent loads of money on
holiday, it'll be like loads of fun, because you're thinking about like, the
magnitude of the value you're getting out of it at some point in time. But I
think, I think this is actually really misleading. And the things that add up to
a lot more value over time, are these things that aren't particularly exciting,
but they just provide a small amount of value over a very long period of time,
and very often.
And so I think a bin is an example of this, where you use it a lot, use it for a
very long time. And so it's worth having a nice experience every time you do.
Other things for example, like, say a backpack, right? I first got a serious
backpack, maybe like three or four years ago, it was like a birthday present to
myself, I spent, like, I think, like 60 pounds on a backpack. This was in the
summer after my second year or something. 60 pounds at the time was a lot of
money for me to be spending on a backpack. But my thinking was that like, you
know, I use a backpack every day, you know, I carry my books in there, I carry
my laptop, and whatever. I use this thing every day for a few hours.
And I'll essentially not replace it until it breaks. And so if I get a good
backpack, you know, if the 60-pound backpack was just, you know, 20% better than
a 20-pound backpack, it would still be worth it because I use it so often, that
this extra 20% adds up to a lot of extra value over the course of my life. Does
that make sense?
