Nearly everything in life can be broken down into a cost-benefit analysis. By doing X, what will the outcomes, Y & Z, be?
At face value, we should look to do what creates the most benefit in our life, and reduces the costs the most. Our aim in doing this should be to create the highest net positive value. Simple, but not necessarily easy to implement.
The picture becomes clouded when we expand our scope of considerations. Instead of just being concerned over the outcomes that we as individuals will receive, looking at the bigger picture of life around us can create a new level of complexity. Suddenly, we become aware of the effects that our actions have on life outside ourselves, and just how far that ripple can move.
We see both of these systems play out in the world, with different countries falling at different points on the spectrum on individualism and collectivism. At first glance, collectivism seems to reduce our “net positive value”. With consideration for others, there becomes an additional cost on our part. What we fail to realize however, is that once accepted by a society, the individuals of that society will all be better off, as the consequences of intentional action by each person will create more benefit in others’ lives.
What may come as a cost to one will be paid in benefit to multiple. And extrapolated, this makes for a higher score for all.
In short, dig deeper than yourself, for there is more to this than what we tell ourselves.