Anticynical #3: Broken Windows
Broken Windows and The 20 Million Dollar Question.
Hi friend đ,
Welcome to the third edition of Anticynical! To recap, in Anticynical #1 I introduced what being anticynical means to me. In Anticynical #2, I introduced the idea of environment design.
The idea in todayâs edition is broken windows.
Idea: Broken Windows
In a nutshell: a little disorder can lead to a lot of disorder if kept unchecked.
Political scientist James Q. Wilson and criminologist George L. Kelling on urban sociology:
âSocial psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones. Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. (It has always been fun.)â
This is popularly known as the broken windows theory.1
The broken windows theory can be a helpful analogy for many areas of our personal lives; a baseline level of order and maintenance is essential, and any damage or chaos above that should be addressed promptly. If left unchecked, it invites more disarray.
For example, it is relevant in home or work environments. I'm not a cleanliness fanatic, but I prefer my kitchen to be neat. I've observed that when the mess accumulates beyond a certain level, it's complicated to reverse. The components of the mess interact to generate more disorder than their sum. For instance, a stain on my washing rack affected where I placed cups and bottles, displacing other items, which in turn displaced other things, and so on. Cleaning that stain first would have saved me a lot of trouble.
I also notice "broken windows" in the psychological domain:
Habits and routines: for a good habit or routine, a sufficiently long break can be the broken window that could break the habit down. More than two late nights in a row can put a lot of stress on my sleeping routine. A break of more than two or three weeks makes it difficult to return to reading a book.
Mental clutter: ignoring small issues and tasks to be done can cause unnecessary chronic stress. Just two nights ago, I woke abruptly in the middle of the night thinking about some tax-related chores I had been avoiding for weeks. I should have just scheduled those tasks on my calendar or knocked them out.
Procrastination: postponing tasks can create a snowball effect, leading to overwhelm and decreased productivity.
Recognizing and repairing broken windows can be a significant first step to enhancing your quality of life.
Question: If you won $20M, but you could not invest or save it, what would you do?
The question âwhat would you do if you won the lottery?â is easy to answer for me. Iâd just invest most of the money. Iâm sure many of you have the same answer.
But by taking the option of investing away, the question becomes more interesting and revelatory.
Iâd love to hear from youâŚ
What are some âbroken windowsâ that keep reappearing in your life?
What would you spend the $20M on? Personal needs? On your family? Or on philanthropy and social impact?
Or anything else at all. Just hit reply.
Over the years, this theory come under some criticism and controversy for purporting unfair policing practices and for not having a sufficiently rigorous scientific methodology. However, the analogy still remains useful in the domains I discuss it.