So I thought about this earlier and I figured I’d write down as much as I remembered.

People (motivational speakers, school principals, and advice book authors especially) often like to ask whether the stuff you’re doing with your life matters. They’ll ask silly questions like “what are you going to remember about today twenty years from now?” and “if you had one day to live, what would you do with it?”

I was talking to a friend of mine who was counting pennies today, and it occurred to me during that conversation that the question is phrased wrong, and takes no account of sensible economic thinking.

Let’s take the mundane tasks you do every day. You may make your bed, go to the store to buy something, watch a movie, volunteer at a soup kitchen, go to your job…whatever it is you do.
Now, consider your earning potential. Hypothetically, I could make anywhere from 10 to 50 dollars an hour on a job. The great thing about that money is that I can pay someone to do all the boring tasks I don’t want to do. I can pay a car wash to wash my car in much less time than it would take me to wash it, I can have a cleaner do my cleaning and use the extra time to work for more than enough money to pay them.

Doing this, you or I can work our way up the food chain, doing more and more valuable jobs that give us more money to let other people do the mundane jobs. Now the big question about all this outsourcing is this:

Of all the things I do with my life, which ones wouldn’t I outsource?

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Update:

[22:51] Chris: i like different perspectives
[22:53] Dan: I’m almost inclined to say you got it right–that you win–but that seems hasty of me.
[22:54] Chris: idk
[22:54] Chris: it just makes you think about what’s important differently
[22:54] Chris: like, i wouldn’t outsource playing video games
[22:54] Chris: going to church
[22:54] Chris: hanging out with friends
[22:54] Chris: playing the piano
[22:55] Chris: everything else…like even scientific research, i can have someone do it for me and the benefits are not lost because i didn’t do it
[22:55] Dan: haha.. those would seem silly to outsource. But I think that’s why the point you raise is worth considering.
[22:55] Dan: hmm
[22:58] Dan: so, it comes down to personal pleasure?
[22:59] Chris: does it?
[22:59] Dan: does it?
[22:59] Chris: pah you’re no help
[22:59] Chris: i don’t think it does….
[22:59] Dan: I asked first!
[23:00] Chris: yeah, i don’t think it’ll just be what you enjoy
[23:00] Chris: for example, i feel compelled to do what is right
[23:01] Chris: and you can say that means doing “the right thing”, whatever that means, is giving me personal pleasure
[23:01] Chris: but then you’re redefining pleasure to match whatever i’m compelled to do, which is circular and doesn’t answer why i would want to do something that doesn’t necessarily offer me an actual reward