Students get their degrees, and everybody is happy--except those that came to learn and be challenged, and in many cases went deep into debt for the privilege. (LocationĀ 574)
future vocations rather than the commonly believed purpose of broadening their horizons in a useful manner. (LocationĀ 579)
However, it will come at the cost of a high grade point average, as the student focuses too much on particular interesting subjects or courses which may not economically provide the optimal grade point return on student effort. (LocationĀ 582)
turn those resources into waste or turn them into wealth; that is, they can be consumers or producers (LocationĀ 936)
First, reduce waste and increase efficiency. It's possible to live with the same benefits as the rest of society for one quarter of what the average consumer spends. Many of these expenses are eliminated by only owning what is actually used, and maintaining what is bought. (LocationĀ 948)
Second, having significantly reduced expenses, invest the difference in businesses. (LocationĀ 952)
Third, find something meaningful to do instead of work. If your work is really meaningful to you, you can keep working, knowing that you are living a less wasteful existence and that you have the financial security to leave your job at any time. The latter in particular seems to make quite a (LocationĀ 962)
it is often helpful to identify degrees of freedom to see what possibilities exist within the system. (LocationĀ 975)
restricted to a fairly narrow range. (LocationĀ 982)
In a nonlinear problem, the whole is different from the sum of the components. (LocationĀ 1025)
particularly because the answers to simple problems are generally precise--but let's not mistake precision for accuracy. (LocationĀ 1034)
Adapting to complex situations makes it possible to substantially increase the level of resources and the number of possible solutions. It's like having a toolbox instead of a hammer when it comes to problem-solving. (LocationĀ 1049)
Personal finance, as opposed to business finance, operates on the concept of consumption smoothing also known as, "Fake it until you make it," as it allows consumers to buy products which they presently can't afford due to lack of savings (LocationĀ 1093)
Since all human knowledge is based on a limited number of mental models, the stronger and wider this foundation of models is, the easier it is to gain new knowledge. (LocationĀ 1344)
This is why having a strategy is much preferred to having a plan. A web comprises and connects a person's thoughts, ideas, experiences, memories, goals, values, desires, connections, assets, liabilities, predictions and expectations. (LocationĀ 1679)
It's important to understand that doing the right thing (good strategy) is much more important than doing things right (good tactics). This (LocationĀ 1691)
Strategy is about defining the end-goals. (LocationĀ 1692)
the strategy is what is going to create success and it is to a large extent what separates successful people from unsuccessful people. The tactics, less so, as most are capable of good performance on the tactical level. (LocationĀ 1697)
Compare this to the businessman, who in many respects is similar except that loose feedbacks, which in the business world are known as inefficiencies (because time is money), are now tightly coupled feedbacks. (LocationĀ 1722)
Slowness can be achieved through delayed gratification. In a world of scarcity, instant gratification is the optimal strategy. In a world of abundance, delayed gratification is the optimal strategy. (LocationĀ 1857)
Conversely, the homeotelic response aims to fix the entire problem--that is, cure the disease. (LocationĀ 1918)
Yet enormous amounts of resources in our society are aimed towards solving problems heterotelically. (LocationĀ 1921)
To solve the problem, the cause of the problem must be understood. However, this is difficult and often impossible! (LocationĀ 1925)
The taken position is a zeroth-order effect and it has first-order effects. Positive effects go over the line. Negative effects go under the line. Each effect also has second-order effects. Positive effects go over the line. Negative effects go under the line. (LocationĀ 1937)
actions. Since adopting specific actions will lead to specific outcomes, all effects can be considered goals, whether you actually want to achieve them or not. (LocationĀ 1960)
To achieve such synergy, count up actions and list the effects. Effects may be positive or negative. Without synergy, negative effects will often cancel out positive effects or effects will be very scattered. (LocationĀ 1970)
For example, one of the things I had to do when starting on the path to early retirement was to replace my money-wasting and generally unproductive hobbies with hobbies that were free (see A modular design) and meaningful a) to not cause friction with my money saving, b) to provide meaning that was unrelated to work, and c) to learn new skills applicable to work (programming and writing). (LocationĀ 1972)
simple form of systems thinking to assemble modules for an overall strategy. Yet unlike the traditional approach to systems theory, which aims to include an increasing amount of existing problems to be solved, generally in a reactive fashion, since the previous lack of systems thinking created them in the first place, the web of goals strategy aims to solve problems proactively by creating (LocationĀ 1977)
On the meta level, a process-oriented strategy is primarily aimed at living, with goals being accomplished as side effects, whereas a goal-oriented strategy is aimed at goals, with living as a side effect. (LocationĀ 2005)
recipes--that is, ways to accomplish something--in your head. (LocationĀ 2124)
a design problem rather than being externalized as a logistical problem. (LocationĀ 2125)
Freedom is attained by creating a large gap between production (revenue) and consumption (expenses). This can be done in two ways--earning more or spending less. Nothing new there. (LocationĀ 2325)
If you're easily capable of producing more, you'll frame freedom as the opportunity to produce more. If producing more requires significant effort, (LocationĀ 2327)
Since being a capitalist takes very little effort when you don't have to write progress reports or win new customers, I can dedicate most of my time to my primary passion, which is writing. (LocationĀ 2336)
From a skill-based-Renaissance perspective, possessions are problematic in the following ways and acquisition should therefore be considered carefully: They cost money. They take up space. They require maintenance. They often act as a gateway to additional or more expensive things. They can be taken away from you. They are hard to get rid of. (LocationĀ 2368)
Simple living isn't about decluttering and reducing the amount of stuff in your life or putting everything on autopilot. Popular approaches attempt to achieve some arrangement of meaningful things that are left after eliminating superfluous stuff or engagements. This can even turn into a substitute faith or a counterreaction of anti-materialism. (LocationĀ 2393)
have the appropriate quality and a low lifetime cost. be durable. be easy to dispose of either by selling, giving away, or trashing in a responsible manner. be small and preferably lightweight. be easy to make. be serviceable locally and easy to maintain and repair, preferably by yourself. (LocationĀ 2402)
inefficient they are, the better status symbols they make. After all, if someone can afford to use a lot of resources in non- or even counterproductive ways, he must be rich, powerful, strong, etc. (LocationĀ 2716)
No business, not any that lives long, would obtain long-term debt that exceeds 50% of their equity and spend it all on nonproductive overhead, yet homeowners consider debts exceeding their nonproductive equity by 400%, conservative. (LocationĀ 2726)
most people a home is basically only a place to sleep, eat, shower, and keep stuff (see Things). Realize that you could choose between having an extra bedroom and having an extra $200 per month.68 It's quite possible that the marginal utility (see Building blocks and Sigmoids, logistic curves, and the maximum power principle) of $200 is higher elsewhere in the budget. (LocationĀ 2734)
Rather than forming an environment which can sustain them, they accumulate assets to survive in an environment that isn't conducive to their living. (LocationĀ 3711)