The Opportunity Cost of Thoughts

I saw a new idea on Twitter the other day. Thinking cost is the idea that you can only think about one idea at a time, which creates a high opportunity cost. You have limited thought “time”, you should be careful how you use it.

I love ideas like this, but lately the main idea I’ve been loving is that if you take a few logical steps, a lot of advice (or mental models) all boil down to the same thing said in a slightly different way. Essentially, this comes down to that how you spend your time is incredibly important. Not only because time is a finite resource, but also because how we spend our time inevitably leads to where we spend our thoughts.

I’m not saying that this idea doesn’t have value, I think it does. What it really does is reinforce the idea that where you spend your time is of the utmost importance. I’ve always known that and the idea of thinking cost didn’t have me thinking much about this until I saw a quote that slapped me over the head like the fool I am.

The Big Idea

“Work destroys your soul by stealthily invading your brain during the hours not officially spent working; be selective about professions.”

Nassim Taleb

For me – this brings up a big idea I haven’t fully wrapped my head around. My job is swallowing not only my time, but also my thoughts while I’m away from work. I can do my best to find a way to draw clearer lines between work and not work, but the improvements here will be marginal at best. Eventually I’ll need to address the fact that I live a blessed life and have a great (but stressful) high paying job.

I either need to accept that my work will invade all hours of my life or do something about it. No clue what I’ll do about this, but it is a huge decision that I should spend more time thinking about.