
A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions - charlieirish
http://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/?utm_content=buffer2b452&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
======
chippy
Interestingly this really is a click bait title, rather than the usual one
that we misidentify identify as such as "Ten Ways a Programming Language is
like a Religion."

This time.com title encourages you to click it with the bait of finding out
who the billionaire is, the implication that they became self-made because of
this easy trick and not stating the trick. Thus it is bait to lure a user in.

The misdiagnosed versions state exactly what the topic is about but encourages
you with the promise of good content. The sting the user gets is that they
notice that it is bad content, and the user reacts based on their experience.

In summary, a click bait title, like in this submission is a finely crafted
memetic call. The more common observed "click bait" articles are more
disappointing in content.

Click bait is about the click, not the content.

~~~
gear54rus
Would like to disagree on that... If you saw an article, for example 'FTL
travel is possible'. You think 'Oh lol wtf, impossible' but you still click on
it.

Inside you find a clear well-formed proof and whatever else you need to
believe that it is indeed possible. Does that qualify as a clickbait as well?

~~~
morganvachon
> Inside you find a _clear well-formed proof_ and whatever else you need to
> believe that it is indeed possible. Does that qualify as a clickbait as
> well?

No, and you stated why: The article delivers on its promise. If you had said
instead "Inside you find a theory suggested by a discredited maniac who
scribbles nonsense on his psych ward walls" then yes, it would have been click
bait.

------
onion2k
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 sold his first company for upwards of $100m, so
maybe there's something to it.

I've tried it but I found it incredibly hard. I want to feel in control over
the little things too much.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion)

~~~
morganvachon
> 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 foods the restaurant serves,
which would probably ruin his ego depletion game but would at least cover the
restaurant (hopefully) if he then succumbs to his dinner.

~~~
jacquesm
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.

~~~
morganvachon
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.

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

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaur...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants)

------
gear54rus
So we went from one hard problem (the decision itself), to another another
harder problem (ranking things on a scale).

~~~
Ma8ee
No, we went from one big unwieldy problem to several smaller more manageable
problems.

------
boothead
You might also find Charlie Munger's mental models useful:

[http://www.thinkmentalmodels.com/](http://www.thinkmentalmodels.com/)

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

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

Also this essay [2] is a good intro.

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

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

------
howlingfantods
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 the better choice for me.

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

------
cLeEOGPw
So HN now contains click-bait links that are not sarcastically click-baity
titled, but are actual trash links without substance? Who upvotes this? Can we
make a system where a mod would honey-pot users who upvote titles like this,
black list them and make their upvotes not count?

------
networked
If you want something like that but with more rigor check out
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/gu1/decision_theory_faq/](http://lesswrong.com/lw/gu1/decision_theory_faq/).

------
henrik_w
The summary is by Shane Parrish. I can really recommend his site Farnam Street
[http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/) for lots
of good summaries.

------
mitch37
Would be nice to use for political elections! So that the least hated / most
liked candidate gets elected.

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

~~~
mitch37
I mean the average among all voters. It relates to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-
runoff_voting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting)

------
ColinWright
See how the "Cookie Consent" button overlays the "scroll down" button?

Don't do that.

~~~
hanspeter
See the "Cookie Consent"?

Don't do that.

~~~
ColinWright
My understanding is that under some interpretations of recently still valid EU
regulations it's legally required to have some sort of explicit cookie
notification and consent.

I'm willing to be corrected, and specific references would be especially
valuable.

~~~
jbrooksuk
I don't think it's as important any more. They relaxed the rules a bit.

~~~
jacquesm
I ignored them from day 1 and I'm fairly confident in that this will not lead
to any trouble on my part. The best ones are the websites that block access
until you've clicked the 'I agree' button without an 'I disagree' option (that
still allows you to view the content).

Shift-ctrl-P should be the default anyway.

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kriro
Why not go the full distance and use the analytical hierarchy process?

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WalterSear
"Decision-makers hate it."

