Money and attention affect how we experience pain and joy. People tend to feel worse when paying with cash compared to using a card. If a restaurant charges you $1 for a spoonful of food, your enjoyment diminishes because you focus more on the cost than the food itself. To reduce spending, you should make spending feel painful. For example, paying with cash rather than a credit card usually leads to less spending. Automatic debit can become a trap. A study shows electricity use increases by 4% when bills are paid via direct debit. Managing spending involves controlling how much importance you give to it. Ultimately, to reduce expenses, we need to change the system and how it’s structured. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
A comment system was in place at a United States Forest Service branch with 2,500 employees. The employees were instructed to submit their proposals on page 4 for comment. Two hundred and fifty-two proposals were submitted over four years. In terms of the number of employees, one idea was proposed every 40 years. The change was necessary. Employees were required to submit a brief idea outline via email. In 30 days, the idea could be implemented if there was no response from the designated contact and no legal issues arose. In the first year, 6,000 ideas were generated. A person without creativity may enter the organization, but the organization may destroy creativity. It's more effective to eliminate factors that impede creativity than to attempt to enhance it. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”