THE COST OF MARGINAL THINKING

Most of us think that while treading this path called life, Important Ethical decisions that will impact our life will come with a sign post "Important Decision Ahead". No matter how hard pressed we maybe in the moment of truth, we will be on right side. After all, most of us believe that we have Integrity. 

But life doesn't work that way, we would hardly get the chance to make life altering Ethical decisions. Life doesn't come with warning signs. Rather, we have to make small decisions & trivial choices throughout the day, every day, which on their own are insignificant having low stakes. But overtime, they may compound into something dramatic.

The safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signpost

Marginal Thinking

In economics, the marginal cost is the change in total production cost that comes from making or producing one additional unit. If we extrapolate the same concept in our personal life, thinking only in terms of everyday small decisions and taking for granted the end result, then such a thought process would be called Marginal Thinking. A term coined by Clayton M. Christensen in his book How Will You Measure Your Life?

Here is an example. Have you watched the season "Breaking Bad"? (Do watch it if you haven't) The season is an ideal example of Marginal Thinking.

 The protagonist, Walter White, is a neighborhood friendly law abiding citizen, who turns into a dreaded criminal, committing heinous crimes and murders. His intentions are to start small and stay small but everyday small decisions leads him running a drug cartel. He hesitates on the first murder but afterwards is on a murder spree. Though a friction, but it's quite close to reality. If you look around you will see countless examples of Walter Whites turning into Heisenberg (Probably less dramatic though).

Our Innate Moral Boundary

We all have some sort of Moral Boundary. An internal moral line, which we try never to cross. But the irony is we seldom act out the things we say especially if we feel vulnerable. 

For example, we all believe lying is immoral. But in moment of crisis, when we feel that our relations or reputation are at stake, we do lie (The lie can be a white lie). And just before lying, we even conjure a justification for it. Thus extending our moral boundary a bit further. Next time it would be easier for us to lie and eventually we won't even need a justification. For us it would become a logical thing to do. This process won't subside by itself rather snowball into something more sinister if left unchecked.

Cost of Marginal Thinking

The marginal cost of such decision for the time is always low. So we bend our own moral boundary and say to ourselves "Just this time". And this dwarfs the true cost of things. We take the first step, one small decision and so on, justifying all the small decisions, finally reaching the Big Ethical one, and it doesn't seem that big, and that's the path to perdition.

When you break your personal rules and give in to "Just this time" based on marginal thinking, you will end up somewhere you never intended to reach.

How can you avoid the trap of Marginal Thinking?

Stay firm in your beliefs. If you profess that you believe in truth, honesty, fairness and so on, but when it comes to your personal gains and losses, you bent the rules of the game. Then it means you are not true to your beliefs. Reflect on each small decision that you take based on what you stand for, staying firm in your beliefs.

Decide what you stand for. And then stand for it all the times. As Clayton M. Christensen puts it, the only way to avoid the consequences of uncomfortable moral concessions in your life is to never start making them in the first place. When the first step down that path presents itself, turn around and walk the other way.