Optionality

Living situation: renting is superior to owning.

Services: pay monthly, not annually. Better yet, al a carte.

Contracts: avoid them.

The ability to pivot and change directions in life is so important. Society is set up to favor long term decisions made at early ages. But, there is wisdom in maintaining your options until as late as possible.

At a certain point, you find your dream house in your dream city. Then it’s okay to buy. Until then, rent.

At a certain point, you meet someone you would like to spend forever with. Until then, date.

When you are young, it is vital to remain light and uncommitted.

When I look back on who I was just a year ago, I was an entirely different person. My political beliefs were different, I followed different people on the internet, I read different books. My thinking seemed naive compared to now. And one year from now, if I continue to grow, this will still be true.

Presumably, as I age my thinking will converge on a few ideas. The oscillations in belief and notable personal growth from year to year will become less significant. But it seems that well into our forties or fifties, we are highly malleable. As such, why would we lock our future self into a situation we may not love?

Most of the benefits in life come from compound interest achieved from long term investments and long term relationships so I’m not saying don’t commit to anything. I am saying to delay your decisions and maintain flexibility, especially while young.

Try living in thirty cities and ten countries before committing to one.

Work in a particular industry before starting a company in it.

Rent the car for a weekend before you decide to buy it.

I have a hypothesis that much of the misery in modern society comes from people prematurely optimizing for a certain decision. Maintain optionality.