We love to debate minutiae

October 11 14 Comments latest by Steve O

If you’re below the age of 125, you have heard people saying one of more of these phrases about losing weight:

• Don’t eat before you go to bed because fat doesn’t burn as efficiently
• If you cut your carb intake and raise your protein level, you can lose lots of weight quickly
• If you eat fruit in the morning, it’s easy on your digestive system and your metabolism will speed up

I always laugh at these things because they’re so absurd. Maybe they’re correct, or maybe not, but that’s not really the point.

The point is that we love to debate minutiae.

We love to debate details at the completely wrong level of analysis.

When it comes to weight loss, 99.99% of people only need to know 2 things: Eat healthier and exercise more. Only Olympic athletes need to know more.

But instead of accepting these simple items and acting on them, we debate calories and trans fats and Atkins and South Beach.

Why? Because we love to debate minutiae.

When we do, we somehow feel satisfied with ourselves. We might have just spun our wheels, and failed at changing anyone’s mind (and our ideas certainly weren’t changed because who knows more about trans fat than us?). But we feel like we really expressed ourselves, and it’s a good feeling.

The problem is that the feeling is totally illusory when it comes to getting anything done. Ironically, debating minutiae is the easiest way to get nothing done: Imagine the last time you and your friend talked about this stuff. Did you go for a run afterwards? Of course not.

Because we love to debate minutiae, which absolves us from actually having to do anything.

I prefer to do it another way. Let the fools debate the details. I’d rather get something done by keeping it simple and actually doing it.

Who wins at the end of the day? The self-satisfied people who heatedly debate some obscure details? Or the people who sidestep the entire debate, recognize the underlying essence of the issue, and quietly get it done?

(4 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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14 Comments latest by Steve O

Cheap versus frugal

September 26 57 Comments latest by katrina

Everybody knows a cheap person, and probably hates them. But I think we often mislabel frugal people cheap. These are just my opinions, but here’s what I think differentiates the two:

Cheap people care about the cost of something.

Frugal people care about the value of something.

Cheap people try to get the lowest price on everything.

Frugal people try to get the lowest price on most things, but spend a lot on items they really care about.

Cheap people are inconsiderate. For example, when getting a meal with other people, if their food costs $7.95, they’ll put in $8.00, knowing very well that tax and tip mean it’s closer to $11.

Frugal people won’t order a Coke if they’re on a budget, so that when the bill comes, they don’t look cheap.

Yes, being cheap and/or frugal can be a cultural quality. I won’t spend much more time on this one.

Cheap people keep a running tally with their friends, family, and co-workers. Some frugal people do this, too, but certainly not all.

Because of the fear of even one person suggesting they spent too much on something, cheap people are not always honest about what they spent on something. Neither are frugal people.

Cheap people are unreasonable and cannot understand why they can’t get something for free. Sometimes this is an act, but sometimes it’s not.

Frugal people will try as hard as cheap people to get a deal, but they understand that it’s a dance and, in the end, they don’t intrinsically deserve a special deal.

Cheap people’s cheapness affects those around them. Frugal people’s frugality affects themselves.

Both cheap and frugal people will be more assertive than most people when trying to get a deal. Over the long term, they’ll both save more money. But one has a cost, while the other pays dividends.

Cheap people think short term. Frugal people think long term.

(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

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57 Comments latest by katrina

Time is NOT money–at least, not yours

March 6 13 Comments latest by Ramit Sethi

I’m tired of people saying “time is money.” No, it’s not–especially not yours.
Read the rest of this entry »

(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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13 Comments latest by Ramit Sethi

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