I'm not an economist, but I play one in real life. What I mean is that every day I leverage my knowledge against the market. Work, family, friends, leisure, these things all make a claim on my most limited resource: Time. That said, I've come to embrace the concept of opportunity cost. Like most things in life, opportunity cost dwells in a place of tension between two extremes. The first extreme is to be unable to say no. Any request made of you receives an instant and enthusiastic yes. "Can you help me paint my house?" "We need new windows, who will replace them?" "Can you help me out by taking on this extra project at work?" "Can you make it to my school play?"
Saying yes to everything guarantees that we will over-commit and under-perform.
The other side of the coin, of course, is to say no to everything. "Can you help me paint my house?" "We need new windows, who will replace them?" "Can you help me out by taking on this extra project at work?" "Can you make it to my school play?"
Saying no to everything guarantees that people will leave you alone.
Since I consider our time on earth best spent while living out our Godly calling community, we have to find our place of tension, where the request and the response take into consideration our priorities and our aforementioned calling.
For example, I am often asked to attend evening meetings, some of which are on my calendar, others of which fall under the category of, "It would sure be nice if a pastor was there..." That said, I try to limit the number of evenings I'm away from my family. For each meeting I commit to, I sacrifice time at home putting the kids to bed, connecting with Jess, etc. So, the opportunity cost involved with attending a meeting is that I am away from my family. Attending a meeting "cost me" the opportunity to spend time at home.
I used to love gardening. Correction, I still love to work outside, planting, nurturing, etc. But, I don't do it anymore. Something has to give when you have kids. The gardens are a mess, stuff doesn't get mulched or weeded or watered. Oh well. My family is awesome. I love playing with the kids, date nights with Jess, taking walks or going to the park. My gardens are a mess but my house is in order...
It turns out that if you manage your finances, you can pay people to do things that would otherwise make you sacrifice the things you value.
Opportunity cost will live in a different place for each of us as we set priorities, balance a budget, and work overtime either at home or place of business during seasons in our lives. My wish for you is that you might take the time to consciously consider what you give up in order to do something else in your life. Our busy lives often force us to do one thing at the expense of the other, and I think we need to take some time to evaluate and re-evaluate those decisions and really be assured that we've put them in the right order.
