Everything costs something

One of the things I enjoy most about operating a distributed business is the flexibility it provides.

Not bound to the ‘9–5’, I can work until 2am and arise at 10am, if I want to.

If I need to work from home so the plumber can access my house — I can do so without guilt.

If I decide to work remotely from Vietnam (which I did for the past 10 days), I can without objection.

It requires a certain mentality to be comfortable working in a distributed environment, not bound by the 8-hour grind. It requires a shift from time management, to outcomes management.

Rather than a timesheet, or an unruly manager breathing down your neck— output is defined by tasks.

The daily ‘to-do’ list.

My daily list is typically split by urgent vs. important.

Urgent tasks, unfortunately, consume my day. They are the fires that need extinguishing. If left unattended, they could spread and become uncontrollable.

Important tasks, on other hand, are the tasks that are tied to my long-term goals. They are tasks that require an investment of time and effort, with no immediate ROI. They are typically the hard tasks — the ones we procrastinate on. The ones we ‘leave for another day’.

My general work habits

One of the Important tasks on my daily to-do list is to write a 1,000 words. One thousand daily words to work towards my goal of shipping a book by 31 January 2018.

This is the narrative I am currently telling myself:

· The ship date was arbitrarily established. What difference does it make if I change it to 31 July 2018, or even July 2020?

· You’re an accountant, not an author. Stick to what you know.

· Writing is hard, and you’re burning a lot of time attempting to do it. You could get paid doing billable work instead. Why waste this time and effort?

This is the lizard brain in full effect.

Everything costs something

The reality is that Opportunity costs are real and easily overlooked.

Opportunity cost is the value of the lost opportunity, the benefit of the thing you could have done instead of what you’re doing now.

Typically applied in the field of finance and economics, opportunity cost is generally only considered in financial investment opportunities. If I invest in shares at a 10% yield, what is the opportunity cost if I invest that same money into my business, to generate more profit?

The problem is, most people don’t consider the opportunity costs of day to day decisions.

Opportunity cost is at its most expensive when we miss opportunities.

The opportunity cost of not investing in training that new employee, of not listening to a new idea, of saying ‘yes’ to that bad client you know you should have fired.

These are significant, and we overlook them all the time.

What’s worse?

The opportunity cost of inaction keeps rising.

Now, Jason, stop procrastinating and write that 1,000 words.

This is getting expensive.

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