"Waste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life."--Michael Leboeuf
One of the key lessons I learned in my college economic classes was the concept of opportunity costs. In a nutshell given a set of scarce resources and multiple needs, when you apply that resource to one of the needs you are giving up on the others. Those unmet needs are the opportunity costs.
One of my goals for this year is to focus my time, money, and attention (all scarce resources) on just a few goals and projects. This requires me to postpone or give up other projects I had running simultaneously in the background so I can use my scarce resources towards the goals I want to accomplish.
A recent example was presented to me last week. For the past couple of years I have been asked to photograph the talent show at my daughters old elementary school. In the past I saw this as a way to give back to the school and to potentially build up a portfolio and client base for a future photography business. Last week I was asked once again to photograph the event this year. I was not able to photograph it due to a scheduling conflict but I took this opportunity to explore my options as if I was available.
What is the opportunity cost of photographing the event? The time
involved would have been two 5+ hour nights and a weekend of processing
photos. So it would have probably been about 20-30 hours of time in a
week. That 20-30 hours would have forced me to give up time towards my
goals and other projects. I recently decided I don't want to photograph
portraits professionally, so
what does it do for me other than a feeling of well being and community
service? The equation comes down to Goals vs Charity? At this point in
time I'm leaning towards goals right now at the cost of providing a
charitable service.
In the local DC Metro area I'm surrounded by several examples of people that are looking at these opportunity costs and have decided to focus their efforts towards their goals.
One example is Michael Palmer who has recently decided to focus his photography business on food photography. In the past he had a great portrait, food, and fine art portfolio. Last year during a recent photowalk he mentioned he is changing his focus to specialize on the food photography market. He converted his website and blog and has started to create an excellent food photography portfolio and client list. This change in focus comes at a cost to his other photographic efforts, but I feel like he will become more successful with this new focus.
Shawn Duffy is another local photographer that gave up his job at the World Bank to pursue his goal of being a photojournalist. He is now currently in Palestine as a freelance photojournalist trying to build his photography portfolio and client base. His goals out weighed his need for a steady paycheck so he can pursue his passions.
Personally I have been thinking about the time I spend on various projects and activities in my life. For example what is the opportunity cost of me playing a video game versus doing research or training on one of my projects. If I still feel like playing a game, what is the opportunity cost of playing a game alone on my PC versus playing the same game on the PS3 with my daughter for some quality family time? These are the type of questions and decisions I want to ask myself.
Another friend came to this same realization a couple of years ago. Jon McRay gave up video games and other distractions to concentrate on his nature photography. He has dedicated many of his weekends to travel to locations several hours away, or waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning to ensure he is at his location before sunrise. His photography has also improved greatly since he has made this change in his life. That is dedication to your goals and choosing that the goals win over the other opportunities.
I admire that dedication and focus. These photographers provide me with the inspiration to dedicate myself to my own goals.
So my dedication for this year is towards the goals I set at the start of the year. On the photographic front I'm focusing on my Civil War photography project. I still need to determine what the actually end point is going to be, but having a focus will help me to create my path and achieve my goals.
In the local DC Metro area I'm surrounded by several examples of people that are looking at these opportunity costs and have decided to focus their efforts towards their goals.
One example is Michael Palmer who has recently decided to focus his photography business on food photography. In the past he had a great portrait, food, and fine art portfolio. Last year during a recent photowalk he mentioned he is changing his focus to specialize on the food photography market. He converted his website and blog and has started to create an excellent food photography portfolio and client list. This change in focus comes at a cost to his other photographic efforts, but I feel like he will become more successful with this new focus.
Shawn Duffy is another local photographer that gave up his job at the World Bank to pursue his goal of being a photojournalist. He is now currently in Palestine as a freelance photojournalist trying to build his photography portfolio and client base. His goals out weighed his need for a steady paycheck so he can pursue his passions.
Personally I have been thinking about the time I spend on various projects and activities in my life. For example what is the opportunity cost of me playing a video game versus doing research or training on one of my projects. If I still feel like playing a game, what is the opportunity cost of playing a game alone on my PC versus playing the same game on the PS3 with my daughter for some quality family time? These are the type of questions and decisions I want to ask myself.
Another friend came to this same realization a couple of years ago. Jon McRay gave up video games and other distractions to concentrate on his nature photography. He has dedicated many of his weekends to travel to locations several hours away, or waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning to ensure he is at his location before sunrise. His photography has also improved greatly since he has made this change in his life. That is dedication to your goals and choosing that the goals win over the other opportunities.
I admire that dedication and focus. These photographers provide me with the inspiration to dedicate myself to my own goals.
So my dedication for this year is towards the goals I set at the start of the year. On the photographic front I'm focusing on my Civil War photography project. I still need to determine what the actually end point is going to be, but having a focus will help me to create my path and achieve my goals.