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A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

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Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#31

Post by Adirael »

morganvachon wrote: post #23
jacquesm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're allergic to something and you tell a waiter to just bring you anything I think you have about 100% of the responsibility all by your lonesome and if you sue the restaurant from that situation I sincerely hope that you not only lose but will be forced to cough up the legal fees for the defending party.

I'd like to think you are correct, but (at least here in the United States) I can see the lawsuits piling up. People here sue over spilled coffee, it's not out of the realm of possibility.

The "spilled coffee" case was not a frivolous lawsuit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaur...

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#32

Post by Dewie3 »

onion2k wrote: post #9

A chap I know uses a 'trick' to help him make decisions - he doesn't make them unless they're important. In a restaurant he'll just tell the waiter to bring him something good. In a bar he'll go for whatever is closest. And so on. The theory, called ego depletion[1], says that you have a limited amount of energy for making decisions and once you use it up you'll find it much harder to make good choices. My friend sol…

"Ego depletion" is probably related to/is the same as the articles I've seen on how willpower is something that you can fatigue/exhaust. No wonder it is hard to have willpower in modern society, when you need so much of it (because so much is just right there).

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#34

Post by seahorse »

howlingfantods wrote: post #28

I usually just flip a coin. If I have considered a problem for a significant amount of time and still have not come to a conclusion, it probably means that the two sides of an argument probably has equal weight and it doesn't matter which I choose. On the other hand, if I see the coin has landed on heads and I suddenly don't want to go through with the coin's choice, it probably means that I knew all along which was…

An optimization is to notice which side you wish the coin lands at before it lands.

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#35

Post by tempodox »

Kliment wrote: post #25
TickleSteve wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK requires a cookie-consent to be accepted before any tracking is performed. Caused a bit of an uproar a year or two ago but nobody seems to mind now.

The simple and correct response to this is to not track people.

Which would immediately shut down every web site you don't pay for.

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#36

Post by mitch37 »

tempodox wrote: post #33
mitch37 wrote: post #22

Would be nice to use for political elections! So that the least hated / most liked candidate gets elected.

When was the last time you elected someone you didn't like or did hate?

I mean the average among all voters. It relates to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#37

Post by ashearer »

gear54rus wrote: post #5

So we went from one hard problem (the decision itself), to another another harder problem (ranking things on a scale).

That's true of some decisions, but not all. It's a divide-and-conquer strategy. In some situations, ranking would be easier than the decision itself otherwise would be. In others, the method wouldn't necessarily be easier, but it would be more accurate. For weighty decisions, accuracy trumps ease.

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#38

Post by ra »

Galrito wrote: post #17
boothead wrote: post #7

You might also find Charlie Munger's mental models useful: http://www.thinkmentalmodels.com/

Too bad it only works with iPhone. Is there a android / web book for this?

Check out, "Poor Charlie's Almanac" by Peter D. Kaufman [1].

Also this essay [2] is a good intro.

[1] https://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/

[2] http://www.focusinvestor.com/FocusSeriesPart3.pdf

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#39

Post by petercooper »

silverbax88 wrote: post #29
onion2k wrote: post #9

A chap I know uses a 'trick' to help him make decisions - he doesn't make them unless they're important. In a restaurant he'll just tell the waiter to bring him something good. In a bar he'll go for whatever is closest. And so on. The theory, called ego depletion[1], says that you have a limited amount of energy for making decisions and once you use it up you'll find it much harder to make good choices. My friend sol…

I'm not sure how looking at a menu for 30 seconds makes a massive difference in your life. I'm definitely a person who tries to look at the big picture and not get bogged down in details, but this just seems like laziness. Meanwhile, the book being touted on the article does not have a Kindle version. Not really great for a book touted for quick decision makers on the go.

Agreed. It's like the recent fad of people wanting to own only one outfit repeated 10 times so they don't have to "choose" what clothes to wear.

Picking clothes can be as simple as a 10 second decision on a par with deciding whether to take a pee here or wait until I get to my destination.. andI ain't wearing a diaper to take away that decision ;-)

Re: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions

#40

Post by xanmas »

morganvachon wrote: post #16
onion2k wrote: post #9

A chap I know uses a 'trick' to help him make decisions - he doesn't make them unless they're important. In a restaurant he'll just tell the waiter to bring him something good. In a bar he'll go for whatever is closest. And so on. The theory, called ego depletion[1], says that you have a limited amount of energy for making decisions and once you use it up you'll find it much harder to make good choices. My friend sol…

> In a restaurant he'll just tell the waiter to bring him something good. I've seen people do this, and my first thought is "what happens when the waiter brings him something he's allergic to?" The patron didn't make the conscious decision to order that specific food, which makes me think the restaurant is now open to a lawsuit. If I were the waiter in that scenario, I'd ask the patron if he's allergic to any of the…

I love beer but generally dislike lagers (or at least american style lagers), so I'll often ask for a mystery beer and specify "anything except for a lager." I've truly yet to be disappointed. It's hard to imagine you couldn't do the same with food.
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