Mental model · Deciding
Opportunity cost
Opportunity cost: The real cost of a choice is the best thing you did not do with the same time or money.
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The real cost of a choice is the best thing you did not do with the same time or money.
Try it now
Take something you are about to commit to. Write what else you would do with those exact hours and that exact money.
What to do with the answer
Compare against that alternative, not against doing nothing. "Is it good?" is the wrong question.
Where it misleads
Applied to every small decision it is paralysing. Save it for commitments large enough to matter.
The module it belongs to
- Decision Thinking — Make better decisions under uncertainty