One thing strikes me: you appear to be supposing that apart from how much money is involved, every possible activity per hour is equally valuable to you in itself. This is not required by rationality unless you have a utility function that depends only upon money and a productivity curve that is absolutely flat.
Maybe money isn’t everything to you? That’s rationally allowed. Maybe you actually needed a break from work to clear your head for the rest of the afternoon or whatever? That’s rationally allowed too. It’s even allowed for you to not want to do that freelancing job instead of going for a walk at that time, though in that case you might consider the future utility of the net $90 in getting other things that you might want.
Regarding food, do you dislike cooking for yourself more than doing more work for somebody else? Do you actually dislike cooking at all? Do you value deciding what goes into your body and how it is prepared? How much of your hourly “worth” is compensation for having to give up control of what you do during that time? How much is based on the mental or physical “effort” you need to put into it, which may be limited? How much is not wanting to sell your time much more cheaply than they’re willing to pay?
Rationality does not forbid that any of these should be factors in your decisions.
On the startup example, my experience and those of everyone else I’ve talked to who have done it successfully is that leading a startup is hell, even if it’s just a small scale local business. You can’t do it part time or even ordinary full time, or it will very likely fail and make you less than nothing. If you’re thinking “I could spend some of my extra hours per week on it”, stop thinking it because that way lies a complete waste of time and money.
One thing strikes me: you appear to be supposing that apart from how much money is involved, every possible activity per hour is equally valuable to you in itself.
No, I am not supposing that. Let me clarify. Consider the example of me walking to pick up food instead of ordering it. Suppose it takes a half hour and I could have spent that half hour making $50 instead. The way I phrased it:
Option #1: Spend $5 to save myself the walk and spend that time freelancing to earn $50, netting me $45.
Option #2: Walk to pick up the food, not spending or earning anything.
The problem with that phrasing is that dollars aren’t what matter, utility is, as you allude to. My point is that it still seems like people often make very bad decisions. In this example, the joy of walking versus freelancing + any productivity gains are not worth $45, I don’t think.
I do agree that this doesn’t last forever though. At some point you get so exhausted from working where the walk has big productivity benefits, the work would be very unpleasant, and the walk would be a very pleasant change of pace.
even if it’s just a small scale local business.
Tangential, but Paul Graham wouldn’t call that a startup.
You can’t do it part time or even ordinary full time, or it will very likely fail and make you less than nothing.
I disagree here. 1) I know of real life counterexamples. I’m thinking of people I met at an Indie Hackers meetup I used to organize. 2) It doesn’t match my model of how things work.
One thing strikes me: you appear to be supposing that apart from how much money is involved, every possible activity per hour is equally valuable to you in itself. This is not required by rationality unless you have a utility function that depends only upon money and a productivity curve that is absolutely flat.
Maybe money isn’t everything to you? That’s rationally allowed. Maybe you actually needed a break from work to clear your head for the rest of the afternoon or whatever? That’s rationally allowed too. It’s even allowed for you to not want to do that freelancing job instead of going for a walk at that time, though in that case you might consider the future utility of the net $90 in getting other things that you might want.
Regarding food, do you dislike cooking for yourself more than doing more work for somebody else? Do you actually dislike cooking at all? Do you value deciding what goes into your body and how it is prepared? How much of your hourly “worth” is compensation for having to give up control of what you do during that time? How much is based on the mental or physical “effort” you need to put into it, which may be limited? How much is not wanting to sell your time much more cheaply than they’re willing to pay?
Rationality does not forbid that any of these should be factors in your decisions.
On the startup example, my experience and those of everyone else I’ve talked to who have done it successfully is that leading a startup is hell, even if it’s just a small scale local business. You can’t do it part time or even ordinary full time, or it will very likely fail and make you less than nothing. If you’re thinking “I could spend some of my extra hours per week on it”, stop thinking it because that way lies a complete waste of time and money.
No, I am not supposing that. Let me clarify. Consider the example of me walking to pick up food instead of ordering it. Suppose it takes a half hour and I could have spent that half hour making $50 instead. The way I phrased it:
Option #1: Spend $5 to save myself the walk and spend that time freelancing to earn $50, netting me $45.
Option #2: Walk to pick up the food, not spending or earning anything.
The problem with that phrasing is that dollars aren’t what matter, utility is, as you allude to. My point is that it still seems like people often make very bad decisions. In this example, the joy of walking versus freelancing + any productivity gains are not worth $45, I don’t think.
I do agree that this doesn’t last forever though. At some point you get so exhausted from working where the walk has big productivity benefits, the work would be very unpleasant, and the walk would be a very pleasant change of pace.
Tangential, but Paul Graham wouldn’t call that a startup.
I disagree here. 1) I know of real life counterexamples. I’m thinking of people I met at an Indie Hackers meetup I used to organize. 2) It doesn’t match my model of how things work.