Scarcity

Ultimately "Scarcity" (2013) is about managing your resources such as money, time, space, etc.  Mostly we start with abundance and fritter it away to scarcity.  This is a good perspective on this all too common problem.  Bought to my attention by Daniel Pink.

We have learned to focus more when something we value is scarce, but the authors declare we are really tunneling, meaning we disregard things that are less important, but afterwards neglect will compound the scarcity. 

Stephen Covey divided our choices to: important and urgent, important/not urgent, not important/not urgent.  When we tunnel we lose sight of the important/not urgent and that leads to future problems.

One example I identify with is, we are less liberal with toothpaste as we near the end, but we don't worry about that when we get a new tube.

Scarcity refers to what we feel we need, time, money, etc. 

Scarcity too often leads to borrowing.  Classic example is with money.  When we get paid most people have a tendency to spend a lot soon and not really pace themselves until the next pay.  If something occurs such as an emergency, a last minute invitation, a limited sale, many will borrow money.  The interest compounds so next time you have an extra burden.

Time is another example.  Students are a cliche.  They too often wait until the deadline to cram a school assignment or test.  They ignore other things usually such as friends, entertainment or other studies.  This can catch up to them.  At work, employees often duplicate this behavior leading to neglect of other important things.

Most of us have slack that allows us to handle the unexpected, the authors label it Bandwidth.  With enough bandwidth one can handle distractions include your own wandering mind and unexpected emergencies.  Build up your bandwidth.  Below are some suggestions for both individuals and groups.

Government and employers can help.  Dividing up payments (or government assistance) for greater frequency encourages recipients into pacing themselves.  School lunch programs build up bandwidth for parents and in turn for the students.  Childcare is a major concern affecting mothers, but if it can be smoothed out business and education will both benefit reducing scarcity.  School assignments could also be more frequent.  Filling out forms tend to exasperate especially poor people and could be made easier using current records.  Long deadlines are a recipe for trouble and can best be replaced with frequent interim deadlines.  Incentives can be useful, but they cannot be in the distant future, but visible and almost immediate, a successful example was incited to get people to vaccinate in India was a kilo of lentils.

Banks and credit card companies can make bill payments automatic removing some of the anxiety and making certain bills are paid.  Making decisions more automatic will help build up your bandwidth.

The authors confess they found that time demands led to scarcity and they missed deadlines making the book come out later than scheduled.  They maintain they learned a few lessons along the way.  I have been making some adjustments and hope you will look carefully at yourself and make a few adjustments to make your life better.

There is a lot more to understand in "Scarcity" and to adapt.  A worthwhile read.

Check   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/09/focus-is-crucial-for-work-and-play.html for another perspective.