Rat Race Racket

1.

Rats! They're pesky, they breed, and they spread disease. So no wonder, the French government of Vietnam in 1902 wanted to control the rat population and they came up with a brilliant idea. Why not do public-private-partnership. Incentivize people to catch and kill rats and pay them for every rat tail they turn in as evidence. The program was a big hit. People were turning in tails by the truckloads. But then, the government officials started noticing something. The rat population didn't reduce at all. Going by the amount of money they paid, they should have eradicated the rat menace. But the city was still infested.. and infested with tail-less rats!! People would catch rats, cut its tail and let it go so that it can breed more rats, which means more tails, and more money!!

Rats!!

2.

British government in India came up with a similar scheme to control the snake population. And the story also has a similar ending. People started breeding snakes so that they can kill it and get the bounty from the government. This tale has a worse ending - when the government realized what's going on, they stopped the scheme. The snake breeders just let the snakes out and the wild venomous cobra population actually increased than before!

Rats, cobras, pigs, poppy farmers, gun buybacks.. there are many more stories of good intentions turning into bad outcomes.

There's a lot to learn from how, by trying to kill a monster, we end up creating a new monster!

This isn't something that happens with governments alone. We run such rackets in our lives too.

Who doesn't make resolutions to get fit? I did too. And my answer was to get to the gym more. And I decided to get a trainer so that I'd have some discipline. Sounds good so far? But, over time, I started noticing that I'd go to the gym only when my trainer shows up. If he doesn't, I'd just sit on my ass. I realized that I have completely outsourced it and externalized the concern that I am (conveniently) no longer accountable for my own health.

Ultimately I am the loser, but that's not how I looked at it. Now I have enough things to blame it on. I am not getting fit because

• my trainer skipped the sessions
• my trainer is not good
• half the equipments in the gym weren't working

I was running a racket!

Tail-less rats are running around in my life!! :-)

A "racket" according to the Landmark Forum workshop is a "persistent complaint and a fixed way of being".

In many parts of our lives, we are frustrated for not doing well, but we don't realize that we are running a racket. Rackets work because there is a "perverse incentive" somewhere hidden. I wasn't going to the gym because there is a perverse incentive for me.

But I don't want to admit it. I find it easier to complain about my trainer or the gym.

Personally, my favorite story on perverse incentive is from Dan Ariely's book "Predictably Irrational".

A day care center expects parents to pick up kids by 5pm. They had few parents who'd be late. So someone came up with a brilliant idea that we should have penalties post a grace period of 10 minutes. That'd definitely send a strong signal for people to pick up on time! Right? What actually happened is that the late pick-ups sky rocketed! Parents earlier would feel terrible picking up late so majority of them would be careful to not be late, but now they just pay the fine and come late. The new penalty policy actual legitimized late pickup by putting a monetary value to it.

So how do we avoid this perverse incentive rackets in our lives?

1. Avoid reward and penalty system because it always cheapens the ultimate goal. If you want to follow a diet, creating a cheat day dessert as an incentive to comply with your diet plan only cheapens the whole idea of getting healthy. I'd rather you set more modest and reasonable goals and do it or don't do it at all. Stick to the principle and don't cheapen it.
2. Focus on why you are doing it. What kind of a being you are trying to be. Ultimately, what you are decides how you act. It's not the other way around.
3. Identify rackets in your life and stop them. When you complain or attribute lack of an outcome to something external, you'll notice that you have been running a racket. Identify and stop them. You shouldn't be having any reason to complain about anything in your life.

Hope you'll enjoy finding those tail-less rats running amok in your life and kill them soon!!