After recently acquiring a gas burner, I, a city dweller far removed from tourism, enjoy a “campfire” in the kitchen. But in addition to the freedom to boil a mug of tea when the power goes out in Kyiv, I also got a reminder of the connection between finitude and value. Of course, we pay for electricity every month, but its constant availability in the socket kind of devalues this resource. Like the constant availability of 20.95% oxygen in the air, we simply take electricity as a given, ceasing to count it.
Cylinder gas is another matter. Its finiteness — whether it is 100, 240 or 400 grams, as well as the visibility when it burns or leaks, instantly intensifies the desire to save it in every possible way. It’s not a question of money or even the hassle of ordering a new cylinder. It is, on the one hand, a kind of primal terror that an important resource may run out, and on the other, a fascinating game of how to get more with less.
The limited nature of the resource makes us appreciate it, and hence count it carefully. Knowing this insight distinguishes professionals from novices in any area of life. An experienced athlete, having obtained a favorable position in a struggle, will never give it back to his opponent. A mature farmer will try to use even a by-product in the farm. A seasoned founder will never start a business, hire an employee, or approve an initiative without first making it clear what value he expects in exchange for the investment. It hurts him physically if any resource is idle, rusty, or wasted. And knowing that limitlessness relaxes and corrupts anyone, he makes a conscious effort to artificially limit any resource. This disciplining function is served by the practice of evaluating the company’s proposed solutions from an ROI perspective: “For what?” and by having someone close to the founder who can ask that question even to him.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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