Boom VisionTM Podcast

Episode 17: Opportunity Cost vs. Benefit - What Empowers You More?

 

 

Quote"Gentlemen, the only way to achieve the impossible, is to believe it's possible." - Charles Kingsleigh in 'Alice in Wonderland'

Folks, how many times in your life, when you're making decisions about your career, business, or relationships, where you ask yourself: "If I spend my time here, what's my opportunity cost?"

Examples of opportunity cost: What's the opportunity cost if I start a new business versus staying in my current "stable" job?

Quote: "Life is full of possibilities. You just need to know where to look. " - Joe Gardner (Jamie Fox) in 'Soul'

In today's episode, I'm going to dive deep in the topic of opportunity cost.  Has the traditional way of calculating opportunity cost helped you make decisions that aligned with your gut feeling? Do you tend to weigh your options on what you're not willing to lose? And has that been serving you well to achieve your dream job, your dream business, or your dream vision of life? In today's episode, I will share:

  1. What is opportunity cost?
  2. What is opportunity benefit?
  3. Examples of each: which one empowers you in decision making?
  4. I'll share action steps how you can start changing your perspectives.

Show Notes

[1:59] - Hi folks, welcome back to episode 17 of the Boom Vision podcast! I felt compelled to share today's topic with you because it came up a couple of times in the past several weeks during my coaching calls with my clients: the topic of opportunity cost. 

[2:16] - Quote: "Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” – Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I

Do you tend to focus on what you might lose rather than what you can gain or win?  Do you tend to focus on what you can't let go, versus what new experiences you can gain coming into to your life?

[2:42] - Definition of Opportunity Cost

  • Definition: the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.
  • This term, Opportunity Cost, gets used a lot in the context of business and investing, when you're making comparisons between different options and trying to filter how to select the best choice through process of elimination.

[3:09] - Example of opportunity cost: Income versus Self Care.

  • Let's say as a health practitioner, you see on average 5 patients a day, and each session is $200. On any given day, your income is $1,000
  • But let's say you're thinking of taking a half day off, you need to recharge your batter and spent time in nature for an afternoon hike because you're just mentally and physically depleted.
  • By taking an afternoon off, you're only able to see 2 clients which yields $400.
  • In this case, you're opportunity cost in taking the afternoon off is $600.
  • The reason being, your alternative choice of working a full day is making $1,000. Since you only made $400 in seeing 2 patients in the morning, you are foregoing $600 of potential income that you lost out on.

[4:14] - What is Opportunity Benefit?

My definition of Opportunity Benefit is: the benefit (return) you will gain with your selected choice over the benefit (return) of alternative choices you did not select.

[4:40] - Here’s the thing: whatever you focus, you give it power and that’s what shapes your reality 

[5:26] - Going back to the example of the health practitioner: if you had evaluated your options through the lens of opportunity benefit, rather than opportunity cost, the opportunity benefit of taking a half day off is recharging your mental battery and physical body. Your mind, body and soul would be in balance, reducing the risk of burnout and avoid compromising your immune system. Does this opportunity benefit weigh much more than the $600 opportunity cost you're foregoing in working a full day? Can you relate?

[6:27] - Why is this important? If you have a tendency to weigh opportunity cost more heavily in making decisions, let me zoom out to explain why you might have that programming. 

[6:39] - In Episode 2 (Voice): I share that Dr. Bruce Lipton said that 70% of the programs we download for our subconscious mind are negative and disempowering. That means as a toddler, you hear 2 no's for every 1 yes. 

[8:14] - Personal Story: San Diego trip to Sea World back in 2016 with my family and parents.

[15:40] Why am I sharing this personal story? My mom, where I know she's coming from a place of pure love, she used language that was predominately weighted towards opportunity cost because that's how her SOS is programmed.  The way my mom is wired is If the perceived opportunity cost was too high for her to handle, it wouldn't even matter how much the opportunity benefit is, she'll choose the option that's has the lowest perceived risk.

[16:24] Why my wife and I are soul mates, is that when we see something, where the opportunity benefits outweigh the costs, and it's something we really want, we go for it. 

[16:36] Main Takeaway: Do you tend to look at life through the lens of opportunity cost or opportunity benefit?

When it's time to make that final decision on evaluating your options, do you emphasize more on the opportunity costs that drive your decisions, or are you focusing more on the opportunity benefits?

When you do a comparison, a cost benefit analysis, on weighing your options, you really want to weigh both the opportunity benefits and opportunity costs with each option or alternatives.

[17:44] - Action Steps: Use the CAL Method

  • C - Calming: Calm yourself with a method that works for you to quiet your wind tunnel.  Meditation, breathwork exercise (like the 1 min. exercise) running or yoga stretches. Find a easy method that you can to calm yourself within a few minutes.
  • A - Awareness:  In that calm state, bring awareness to your trains of thought. When you're weight options, equally evaluate the cost and benefit of options? Or do you tend to put more weight and emphasis on the cost? Of what you have to let go? Do you have a tough time letting go of something? If so, have you dived in deeper to understand, why it's difficult to let go?
    • Do you all remember Episode 5, where I explained the importance of letting go of your bananas? If you don't know what I'm talking about, after finishing this episode please go listen to Episode 5!
  • L - Language:  Ask yourself:
    • can I give myself permission to evaluate both the benefits and costs of each option? 
    • Can I give myself permission to evaluate from a neutral state, rather than emphasizing from an opportunity cost state of mind?
    • Is there a 3rd alternative that has the most opportunity benefit and lease amount of opportunity cost?

[19:24] - Final Thoughts

Quote: “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” - Christopher Reeve

Folks, I hope by introducing the new language and vocabulary of opportunity benefit in your life, if you can begin to reprogram your SOS on how you evaluate your options.  By doing so:

  1. you will evaluating your options from a more balanced state of mind,
  2. and I hope you also start asking different questions: What is a 3rd alternative? Does it have to be binary? There's always a 3rd alternative, if you summon the will to search for it.

Your dreams MAY seem impossible. In your mind it might SEEM like a leap of faith. But It's just a jump of faith with the right perspectives, when you start using language that energetically match your vision. And if you practice the CAL method to start shifting to a more neutral state of weighing opportunity benefits and costs, I know you'll realize it's just a step of faith, and no longer a leap of faith.  Your dreams are inevitable if you just take that 1st step!

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Send me a DM on IG (@benjaminyeh), please let me know if today's episode positively impacts you!

I also want to add, that in this upcoming month in April, I have a few openings remaining for my private 1-on-1 coaching.  If you're searching for a Business & Transformation coach that can help you gain clarity in finding your true north, or amplify your business and truly thriving while having fun doing it, head over to my website and book a free discovery call with me. Happy to connect and see if we we're a good fit!

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