The Opportunity Cost: Is It Worth It?

This past weekend I had a blast at Camp Carey and can't wait to share a few stories and pictures with y'all! Unfortunately, a few little hiccups means I can't do that just yet - hopefully Wednesday will be the day.

Since I got back to ASU yesterday afternoon, I've been going non-stop: unpacking, laundry, homework, errands, meeting, laundry, homework, and finally blog. I'm not going to lie, I am quite tired as I write this.

But I am still up and doing this because I chose to make a sacrifice, an opportunity cost. I chose to give up time I could have been spending around my apartment spreading out various tasks between sessions of Netflix and lounging by the pool to instead go to help facilitate at Camp Carey and get to know some of the new freshmen. And it was more than worth it.

Some people with different personalities would argue that my choice of how to spend my time this past weekend was not worth it even though I believe it was. But that's the thing here: worth is subjective. Sometimes it can be hard to weigh opportunity costs because of how subjective it can be, so here are a few quick tips to help you evaluate some if you are caught between two and can't decide.

Why Do You Want to Do This? | Are you doing this for fun? Or are you doing it because other people are doing it? This may not always apply, but do you want to do this for the right reasons? Take it down to the root and try to figure out the reason you want to do something. If it's a gut feeling, then maybe you should evaluate how accurate your gut has been in the past and decide from there.

What Are The Risks? | This seems like common sense, but you know what they say - sometimes common sense isn't too common. I have seen way too many people jump into risky situations without even stopping to think about the other possible outcomes. I definitely agree there are certain situations/times you may throw caution to the wind, but obviously if your mind keeps floating to this idea, then maybe you should take a little more time evaluating your choices before making your decision.

Do You Have Faith in Your Follow-Through? | Super important. You know yourself better than most, if not all, people. You know most of your habits. If you committed to getting a project done on X day, do you do everything in your power to make it happen? Or do you just push it off and shrug? For me, the bottom line was if I was going to make sure that I still got everything I needed to do done with the limited time I would have because I attended the camp. If I really didn't think I could handle it, I would not have gone on the trip. If you aren't willing to push yourself to follow-through on necessary parts of your regular life, making decisions like going away for the weekend probably aren't the best ideas for you.

Do you have any tips for evaluating opportunity costs? What's the hardest part for you?

xx

Catch you next time.