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It's not so much that I'm oblivious, but rather that I think we're better off taking on responsibility than we are obsessively complicating things that can be simple.

When I was in college we had a sink full of dirty dishes until we had a rule to always wash one more dish than you dirtied. It worked even though the math major refused to participate. The problem wasn't an individual free rider, the problem was that humans were involved, humans make mistakes, and the errors accumulated in the sink.

Paying more than your share is a good habit that has good effects elsewhere in your life. Can you fairly split all the little schleps among the founding team of a startup? Best results are obtained when each person does (what feels like) more than their share. Both members of a married couple should make (what feels like) more than their fair share of compromises. As parents we'll make nothing but compromises and be repaid in resentment. But it's one of the most rewarding things we do in life.

Make a game out of finding ways to pay more than your share, sneak it past the anal retentives and militant obsessives. Extra points if they never notice. It's harder than you might think. But it's good practice for the rest of life.

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