Sitting with ideas

In Rohan’s January 1, 2025 blog post, he mentions a concept: “Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome.” It’s a Charlie Munger quote and it rings true.

But I didn’t quite grasp it the first time I read it. I was about to move on, then I decided: no, I’m going to ponder this one until I have a better understanding of what it really means. I did just that, and I found the exercise meaningful.

Our culture is filled with quips and headlines, posts and articles. They’re endless. We can become like product inspectors standing next to a continuous conveyor belt. We take a brief moment to consider various items and then it’s on to others.

But we can choose to step away from the conveyor.

We can select topics to consider deeply.

We can cogitate, meditate, and reflect.

We can ruminate, internalize, and share.

The world is moving at a clip. It’s easy to forget that we can pull an all-stop when we decide to pay close attention. And paying close attention is worthwhile.