OPPORTUNITY COST- THE BENEFITS, THE MOTIVATIONS, AND THE LESSONS!

Hello, can I get straight to the point?

Now that you finished drinking your coffee or tea this morning, rushing out the door to go to work or take your kids to school, think about your actions. Don’t you know, the lack of self-confidence is the trick of the mind to keep you complacent. You get comfortable in your comfort zone, secretly desiring a better life, but then the excuses come. I am too old, not smart enough, not pretty enough, etc. It is slowly sending you into a depression. The late Kobe Bryant once said, “Everything negative is all an opportunity for me to rise.”

You can take what people think or say, hide in fear because it’s what works, but understand everything you decide to do or not do is still a decision you are making, and with every decision you make, there is a cost. Those costs can benefit your life, set you back, or be damaging. So, why sit around pretending you are where you are in life because of your decisions.

According to Investopedia, “Opportunity cost represents the potential benefits an individual, investor, or business misses out on when choosing one alternative over another. Because opportunity cost is by definitions, unseen, and they can be easily overlooked.”

Guess what? You are the investor in your life. Are you going to let life pass you by, or are you going to live it? Maybe it wasn’t beneficial for you not to chase that career you always dreamed of because it wasn’t suitable for your family. Perhaps you rather be a full-time mother or father until your kids get to a certain age, and that is fine. But you have to make sure your past decisions are still what you want. We forget to audit our lives.

What are you going to do, sit around moping because things didn’t go your way? Sorry! You don’t have time for that! Tomorrow is another day. Choose differently.

You don’t like your life. Wake up in the morning and choose differently! You are not where you feel you need to be at your age. Get on the path toward that life you see yourself in and Choose differently.

A lot of us are chasing the American Dream. The white picket fence, the house, the kids, the car, the career, and the money are things that plant images of the ideal family and life. We work to achieve this life. We make decisions because the opportunity cost of not achieving this makes us feel less. And none of us wants to be inferior.

But the truth is the American Dream is just happiness. What makes you happy will differ from what makes me happy, and my American dream is different from yours. Therefore, what will it take for you to experience happiness?

These days, people have to wonder if they are really happy or just settling. If you are happy, that is great! I am on the road to my happiness. I am making choices, my mind is thinking, and I am trying to figure things out. 

You know what they say, “practice makes perfect.”

Keep trying, and don’t give up!

What does getting back on track look like for you? What does your future look like for you? Once you figure it out, you have the vision to hold onto it. Allow this distant future to motivate you.

Build your confidence and be confident in your choices for yourself because I am here to tell you to stop the shit! When we fall, even as kids, you say to your kids, “to get back up, brush it off, you’ll be okay,” to help them build stamina. That stamina involves: 

• Practice giving ourselves that pep talk. Be okay with not getting or choosing something else—for example, not getting the job. Remember when you did get the job, or you said yes to and no to another job, and it wasn’t all it cracked up to be, especially when people were leaving every month. Sometimes not getting the job or what you want is a blessing.
• Network with other influential, positive people. Understand that sometimes we stand in our way by being antisocial. Sometimes the opportunity lies within your network.
• Acknowledge what you have already achieved. You think you lost out on an opportunity, but look around and be happy for the things you have already accomplished.
• Continuously ask yourself what’s next? They are opportunities everywhere you turn. After you reach one, figure out what you have in mind that you want to experience next.

Think of the opportunity cost you might experience as motivation in your life that you weren’t aware of before. Now that you are aware of what you missed out on, understand what is for you; is for you. What is not; is not. Add it to your goals list and get motivated to achieve it. There is no loss, just motivations and lessons.

When you think about how some people envy celebrities when they are not different from anybody else, stars just took an extra step and kept making decisions. Somewhere along the way, we stopped, and they kept going. We say life got in the way, which means we lost out on specific opportunities. But as morning rises and a new day begins, we can continuously get back on track.