There is an opportunity cost associated with everything. When I am here, I cannot be there. When I am thinking about this, I cannot think about that. When I am doing that, I cannot do this.
In our associations, we are always living with the consequences of opportunity cost. The missed opportunity can cost us money or time and more intangible things like the ability to carve out space to think, a new relationship, or a good idea.
Some times we are very aware of the opportunity costs. If we pick strategy A, we will have to forgo strategy B. However, most times we are not mindful of the fact that opportunity costs are even in play.
There are opportunity costs associated with little things we do every day that we do not think about much:
- Answering email
- Closing the door
- Filling all our time
- Having a meeting
- Checking the phone
- Rewriting, rehashing, redoing, or rethinking
We absolutely can’t stop doing these things, but we can put them in their place when we realize the opportunity cost of doing them.
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