Weighing the Opportunity Cost
Hello, curious soul ~
At the beginning of this year I signed on for a full-time job with a W-2 and everything. This was a bold growth move for me and ultimately a path of deep magical workings.
At the time I tried my best to evaluate “opportunity cost,” a term I'm reading about in a book on entrepreneurship. I knew the choice to have a full-time job had both wins and losses. Some are obvious and just as I predicted. Some were not obvious and took time to come to light.
I knew time and certain types of freedom would be trade-offs, which is part of the reason my husband and I decided to get a puppy. We didn't know we were going to do this, but the consistency of my job gave us the opportunity to bring in Wasabi and give him the time and regular schedule needed during his growth and training. And we already knew we wouldn't be taking any big trips together until I accrued paid time off.
When looking through the lens of “opportunity cost,” you can see them both weaving through each decision you make. Making a choice eliminates certain other options that were available.
Accepting a job gave me stable income and a W-2 that allowed us to finance a new roof (something we'd been trying to do for years but was proving impossible with our self-employed situation). There were other opportunities of growing our family and perks I didn't see coming like working with the wonderful group of humans from whom I learned so much about teamwork, professional boundaries, and career development. I also learned a lot about myself and my professional skill set, to name a few.
The obvious costs were having a set schedule. My time was dictated by someone else.
The costs I couldn't see so well in advance built up over time. While my personal stamina increased for a demanding 8-hour workday, my capacity for anything else started to shrink dramatically. I fulfilled freelance work contracts I had underway, but over the months let go of client after client. I struggled even to publish the 2023 Taming the Tangle Moon Calendar. My weekends became solely about recharging enough to make it through another week. Combine this with expectations that my level of work get higher or that I always function at the level of my best week on the job… well, let's just say my partner and friends who I saw or spoke to (not many because I didn't have capacity for that either) started waving red flags vehemently in front of my face.
Still I tried to boost the opportunity side of this opportunity/cost equation. In an effort to stop complaining and breakdown my own stories about what I could and couldn't do because of this job/my schedule/my life… I started the #75Strong challenge. There are many physical aspects to this challenge, but it's above and beyond a mental toughness challenge. I knew that's what I needed.
#75Strong has been a huge opportunity for me. Today is Day 74. I'm finishing strong but also want to be stronger, so I'm going to tweak it for my own growth edges and go again. I'll share about that soon.
With this added challenge, I was able to clear much of my own fog… but the costs were still piling up… from being antisocial and not sleeping to leaving all creative and magical pursuits behind. #75Strong has helped me feel more like myself again, and it also gave me the perspective to question whether there was enough opportunity left for me in this opportunity/cost equation of having a job.
Nope.
That answer became so obviously clear that I gave ample notice and quietly left this job that was not the right fit for me and vice-versa. This opportunity/cost process gave me this clarity and allowed me to leave graciously. I truly, truly appreciated the opportunity and all it added to my life, but the costs were too draining for me to patch the holes.
And now I can look at this time without a job through the same opportunity cost lens. Same with looking at my 2023 desires and evaluating my next professional pursuits.
Here's what I found to be true:
Every opportunity has a cost, and every cost has opportunities.
Only you know the right balance for you and your life. If the opportunities aren't helping you with where you want to go, how you want to grow, or fulfilling a deeper purpose… check in on that. It can be hard to break the cycle of complaining or the desire to just jump into something new without fully analyzing what you need/want to be supported better.
The opportunity cost process is a great way to check in on your deeper values rather than just reaching for a momentary fix. I had to learn this the hard way.
If you need a prompt to ponder, try this with any situation:
Is [this choice] creating more opportunities or closing them off? What are the potential opportunities and costs of [this choice]?
Having opportunities means there are choices and avenues for growth. When vision narrows and it feels as though there are no choices or opportunities, that becomes a recipe for feeling trapped in a corner and having no options other than to claw your way out or letting everything crumble around you.
Opportunities abound. There are many perfect ones for you out there.