In business, a cost - benefit analysis is carried out when making an investment decision. "Is it worth paying out £x amount to purchase a piece of equipment for the company?" The fancy piece of equipment may give you fantastic results, draw in revenue that you would never have dreamt of, vital for business growth you may argues and instantly, you say YES! Of course! 🤩 Why not?! But then you look at the price tag! Ouch! And the cost of recruiting people to look after the new fancy equipment! Yikes! As you add up the numbers…you realise…it's costing you more to keep this new purchase alive! And the cost is driving your business to operate at a loss. The business decision is made. Financially, the investment does not add up! So how does this apply to your life?
What if you evaluated your life choices using the same principles?
Would you choose to continue living the life that you are living?
Or would you make some changes?
A cost - benefit analysis can help you to:
weigh up the pros and cons of a situation,
raise your awareness of the costs and problems that may be incurred and
evaluate the real cost of a decision before incurring those costs in hindsight.
HOW to do a Cost - Benefit of your life? Think about where you are right now and the lifestyle that you are living.
Grab a notepad and pen, find some quiet space, and try to be as honest as you can answering these questions. Focussing on the benefits of your lifestyle:
Look at your job. List down all the parts of the job that you love, and what you get from your work. Notice the proportion of time that you feel this way
Now come closer to home, what do you love about your house? How does it make you feel?
When you are at work, where does your mind wander to?
What does your work enable you to pay for?
Now take a look at where you spend your time outside of contracted work hours.
Where are you spending your time?
Are you still working, sleeping to recuperate your energy from work, spending quality time with family and friends or using the time to develop yourself?
Look at the quality of the time spent with others or activities, are you present, or is your mind back at work?
What is you relationship like with money?
Look at your luxuries, money spent on holidays, massages, shopping for clothes and gadgets…..and think of the real reason for the purchase.
Will it add value to your life? Or was it really a source of escapism?
What meaning do your major assets, your house, car…have for you?
If you pay for a mortgage or car rental, What would it feel like to not have this payment?
How about your energy and how you look after it or don't…
What choices do you make with the food and drinks you consume?
Would you make the same choices if you were in a different situation? And what choices would they be?
How may your health be impacted by the choices that you make? And what will it look like in 2/ 5/ 10 years down the road?
Does what you do inspire you, bring you happiness and joy? or do you look back with resentment?
Is this what you REALLY want?
Think about your energy with others....
Are your conversations with others positive and energetic? Or draining and resentful?
Spend time with each list….and just notice. Notice…how one side feels versus the other.
What emotions arise when you look at each point you have made
Where your attention goes within and external to your body
And for now, just allow yourself to sit with an awareness (with no next steps) that either:
a) The benefits of my life's choices outweigh the cost
b) The costs outweigh the benefits by far
c) They are much of a muchness
And just be in that space. For now!
A cost - benefit analysis is a vital step in the decision making process, but may not be the only one! Life is a series of decisions and staying in the same situation is a decision in itself. The reality is…making a decision is much more complex than just the one step. Other steps include,
Evaluating your energy blockers to what may be stopping you from moving forwards
Understanding what you truly value, and how this life is aligned to who you truly are
Understanding what you want to create, who you want to be, do and have
What you need to do to reach the person you want to be…
Sounds like this road may take you on a journey? Sure will…but it's a thrilling and eye opener journey!
A cost - benefit analysis in the business world leads to next steps …whether it’s a YES or No. Because its results give you AWARENESS.
And so too does your personal cost - benefit analysis It’s the first step to knowing how you want to truly live your life And it's also the first step in raising your awareness to what is holding you back!