Opportunity Cost

We all know
the classic example of opportunity cost.
If we can only launch one product
and we launch product A,
we won’t benefit from launching product B.
This missed benefit
or cost of not pursuing the other opportunity
is an opportunity cost.

Leonard A. Schlesinger,
Charles F. Kiefer,
and Paul B. Brown
remind us of other opportunity costs
we should be aware of.

“You want to be mindful of
what you are choosing not to do,
and you also want to recognize
another form of opportunity cost:
the price to be paid
for not acting right away
— someone else might conceive
and implement your idea.
And the price to be paid for inaction
— you might spend the rest of your life
in a job you hate,
or miss a great opportunity
to make an once-in-a-lifetime contribution.”

This is why
the standard dreamer’s rationalization
that “it doesn’t cost anything to wait”
is wrong.

It DOES cost something to wait.
It could cost you
the opportunity of a lifetime.