If you tracked every hour spent helping a colleague move, reviewing a friend's portfolio, or introducing two people who might get along professionally, it would look like a poor use of time on any given day. None of it pays immediately. Most of it is never repaid by the same person it was given to.
Why the accounting looks wrong at short range
Reciprocity rarely works one-to-one. The person you help this month is not usually the person who helps you next month. Instead, favors tend to circulate through a wider group over years, in forms that do not resemble the original favor at all — a recommendation from someone you barely know, an opportunity that traces back three or four introductions. Judged transaction by transaction, generosity looks unrewarding. Judged over a decade inside a stable group, it tends to be one of the better returns available.
