Early on, I learned that I couldn’t always count on the adults in my life. I adapted by building backup plans.
But backup plans aren’t free. Plan B, C and D are like insurance premiums. Those premiums blunt your “returns.” You’re forced to over-diversify when you can’t trust your primary bet.
Unreliability is a Tax.
When you can’t trust a person or system, you pay an overhead:
- The Follow-Up Tax: You have to double-check and micro-manage.
- The Padding Tax: You have to sandbag estimates because you expect failure.
- The Overhead Tax: You have an “open loop” in your head because you can’t trust the promise.
I pride myself on rolling with punches. You have to. Punches are inevitable.
But you don’t have to tolerate sources of unreliability. You can lower the tax.
Here’s how I do it:
- Hire reliable people.
- Cut off unreliable friends.
- Pay attention to early signs and exit.
Cheap and unreliable is expensive.
Expensive and reliable is cheap.
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Where is unreliability costing you?