What is offered for free is dangerous — it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price — there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and giving, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.
L40 is the obligation-avoidance doctrine. Naval's caveat: this is also a generosity-maximization doctrine ("be lavish with your money") — the lavish-but-paid-outself generosity compounds, while the discount-and-obliged form quietly compounds against you. Operators who accept free lunches signal to themselves that they are in the "discount-receiver" position, which for high-agency people is a self-fragilization.
Independence from obligation. Naval's productize-yourself and long-term-games-and-equity reading: avoid being bought cheap; the discount isn't free, it's a liability.
productize-yourself and long-term-games-and-equity reading: avoid being bought cheap; the discount…
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