Opportunity Cost: - The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action.

In other words, what is the next best use of that resource?  In terms of the macro economist, every moment of time, dollar, gallon of fuel and board foot of lumber has an alternative use.  If you choose to make a bed out of that lumber, what are you not making?  A bench, a table, a book case?  What is it you are giving up?

I am at one of the junctures in my life where again, I am evaluating everything. Some things, like my marriage, are sacred and need no evaluation beyond I want to spend more time with my wife.  Everything else is up for discussion.  All people should have times of self evaluation.  This is a very good process.  I need to thank the Kardashian's for being the catalyst for the latest round of reflection.

I have never been much for watching TV.  Most of what I watch now is in the company of my lovely wife, who likes mystery shows (mostly on USA network). Which brings us to what collapsed the house of cards which is the entertainment industry.  The Kardashian wedding.  This was a fake event for fake people in fake situations, all being sold as real.  The K Klan (THEIR TERM NOT MINE) were anointed as "royalty" by the  self proclaimed  high priest (and carnival  barker) of entertainment, E!  Never mind E! created the monster/marketing machine.  I reached my saturation point and stopped watching TV of any kind a full 2 weeks before the alleged event.

(As a side note, if the K Klan is going to continue with their reality show, they need to invest in action lessons.  Their line delivery is terrible).

Which brings me back to the question at hand.  For the time and mental energy of watching TV, what is the opportunity cost?  This thought process has expanded to all areas of my personal and professional life.  If I am going to do something, what is the opportunity cost? If I am going to work on a project in the shop, what is the next best use of my time, doing dishes?  Shop wins.  At work it becomes a decision of not who is yelling loudest for something, but what is the best use of my time. I am starting to apply this methodology to the smallest parts of my life.  So far, it is working well.

This is where it gets tricky, because you have to start making judgment and value calls.  Making decisions based on values always has a trap.   I cannot subject someone else to my values.

Clearly writing out the rationalization was the best use of time this morning.  The opportunity cost was not reviewing a procedure for the export of technical data.  Good call if you ask me.