Positive Feedback Systems

Positive feedback, really simply, is when something amplifies itself. An example is putting a microphone next to a speaker:

As sound enters the microphone, the mike amplifies the sound and outputs to the speaker. The louder sound is now picked up through the mike and further amplified before it goes through the speaker, and so on. Before you know it, an ear-popping, screeching noise is deafening the audience.

Positive feedback systems can be good or bad and there are plenty of examples when it comes to money, e.g. people with money will have an easier time getting more money. When we find ourselves in bad positive feedback cycles, we should do things that will dampen and then reverse the cycles.

For thriftiness, it could be the situation in which you say, “hey, I’ve already spent so much on this, what’s a little more,” or “if I just spend a little more, I’ll qualify for x.” When in these situations, we just need to introduce some type of dampener like, “why don’t I get a coffee and think about it,” or, “maybe tomorrow.”

Likewise, when we encounter good positive feedback, we should do whatever it takes to enhance it and make it spread over to other areas of our lives. Let’s say you’ve started to do one new thing every week toward thriftiness (changing to higher efficiency lights, replace taps with low flow ones, removing excess baggage from your car etc.). Do something that will further increase the benefit, like opening up an automatic savings fund to take advantage of what you save or creating a journal of your efforts (this will improve your writing skills).

Look out for the positive feedback systems in your life. They can be very powerful.