I stared at my wardrobe. All the clothes in there I never wore but kept for some reason as if to point out, hey, if you look into my closet, you’ll find a variety of options in here. I’m an equal opportunist for clothes I’d say.
Maybe I’d wear it to a fancy event one day. Maybe, in an act of fashion science, it would look good on me next time even though the last seven times I’d pulled it on, I stared in the mirror exasperated and tugged it right back off again. Maybe because I need to justify that silly impulse buy, by wearing it at least once. I know my economics I’d rationalize (happy to ignore the sunk-cost fallacy for the moment).
And so it went.
Until I lingered long enough looking at the high waisted black skirt and asked, how much would I pay for this right now to keep it?
And so it found its way crumpled into my determined hand and tossed behind me onto the bed to be gone. Onto it’s next journey. Done and out.
That’s how I decluttered my clothes all those years ago (and still continue to because golly I wonder how I bought that thing sometimes).
But recently in reading Essentialism I was posed a different question. One of those sought after, but rarely ever discovered questions that changes how you do business.
What would you pay to acquire that project or opportunity?
That payment is in time and money. That project you’re currently already working on or that opportunity that’s just been flung your way…say you already had it…what would you pay for it? To be a part of it? To commit your time, energy and money to?
Because a whole lot is flung our way constantly. That new start-up idea. That ‘quick’ consulting session for the guy you met at the event last week. The friend that wants lunch with you to discuss a business plan. The project inquiry you just received that seems like a helluva lot of work on a small budget. The meeting your client wants you to jump into tomorrow. The workshop you were just asked to run or the event to go speak at.
There is so, so much pulling us in every direction. Asking for our attention. Demanding it.
And then there’s our own work. The projects we love and the projects we start to resent.
Are any of these things part of your core focus areas? Do they get you to where you want to be going? Are they a distraction? A deflection? Are they keeping your business where it’s comfortable but where you can’t grow?
So what would you pay to acquire any of these opportunities, any of these current projects?
And with that answer you can start to direct your whole business…and probably your life.
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