You should never make a big decision without giving it serious thought beforehand. Plenty of mistakes are made by rushing into new situations and not recognizing both its risks and rewards until it is too late. Take several moments to think through the questions about whatever decision you are about to make. Before you are done, don’t forget to ask this question. I would argue that it is the most important question of all.
“What is the cost?”
It sounds quite simple, but you’d be surprised how few people take even a minute to ask themselves this question before committing to a new decision. If it’s uncomfortable to ask, then the question is even more important.
What exactly is meant by “cost”? You probably assume it refers to the financial price, like how the cost for a gallon of milk is $4.50. That is absolutely one piece of it. In the case of big purchases, the cost is not just the money you pay upfront, but also all the money you will pay for it in the long run. Plenty of people would think twice about taking out massive loans if they sat down to calculate how much money they will be paying back in the long run, especially when accounting for all of the interest on it that will accrue over the years.
Hidden Costs
But that’s not the only thing that is meant by “cost.” It refers to any resource that is spent in the process of receiving something, not just money. One big resource that is far more valuable than money is time. As Tony Stark once told his father, “No amount of money ever bought a second of time.” You can lose money in any endeavor and always commit to making it back. But once a day has passed, it cannot be restored. Your time is much more limited than you probably think, especially if you’re young. Do not waste it.
There is a lot of talk lately about the extreme cost of college in the United States, especially as it ties in to the massive amount of debt in the form of student loans. I will go into much greater detail on analyzing the cost of college and its potential rewards in future posts, but this is one key area where time should be considered just as much as money, if not more so. For many people, a college degree is a necessity to enter into their career of choice. But for many others, college ends up having little significance in their professional life, whether they completed their degree or not. For many of them, college ended up being a drain on not only money, but time as well. It is certainly true that many people are much better off entering the working world right out of high school. Four years later, they may very well be much better positioned than their peers who decided to spend that time pursuing an education instead.
Decisions can cost even more than just money and time. A cross-country road trip costs not only money for gas and tolls, but also additional mileage on the vehicle, as well as further wear and tear on parts that will eventually need to be replaced. In most cases, the true cost of a decision isn’t abundantly clear until long after it has been made. In truth, there are very few decisions where you can fully calculate the cost in advance with 100% accuracy. But taking the time to think through it along these lines is far better in the long run than making all your decisions with almost no forethought.
I emphasize this, along with the messages of my other mindset-related posts, for a clear reason. A better mindset can and often will produce better decisions, which will produce better results for the ones who make them and are affected by them. My intent is not to make you feel guilty for not asking the question sincerely up until now; it is to help you understand why it is so important and, ideally, will encourage you to ask the right questions, such as this, when you make big decisions going forward. In many ways, getting ourselves financially independent can feel like cleaning up all our messes from the past. It’s working through payments on the car we couldn’t truly afford at the time and making up for the money that we lost on a vacation we didn’t budget properly for. But at the same time, any careful consideration that involves time is not just focused on the past, but on the present and the future as well. A healthy mindset will do nothing to change the past, because nothing can change the past. But the proper way of thinking can lead to better decisions in both the present and the future. And if you can learn how to do that, you will be much better able to accept and move past the mistakes you once made. Then, it’s only a matter of time before independence finds you at last.
Peace!
