As a full time worker and a mostly full-time MBA student, I sometimes wonder why there are not more hours in the day. Since January, my “free time” has dwindled and I spend a lot of my discretionary time thinking about the contribution to national income of government spending or wondering how I can make my spreadsheet model a little bit more efficient.
But that misses the point. My accounting professor responded when we, the class, asked him the difference between the students in our part-time, evening and weekend program, and the full time students, saying “you guys understand opportunity cost.” What he meant, of course, is that we get most of the learning opportunity that the full time students do without giving up our day jobs.
I think I can apply that priniciple to the rest of my work (outside of the degree work that is) — to my relationships with my family and co-workers, and whenever anyone asks me for time. “There are not enough hours in the day.” It’s true, but misleading. Making the best use of those hours may feel like a crazy exercise but the more we try at it the better we get at maximizing the opportunities we have.
