⏱ The Best Minute: Cost-per-use, adapting, and getting things done
💡 1 IDEA FROM ME
Cost-per-use is more important than overall cost.
The overall cost of something should not be the only (or even the biggest) factor in what you purchase. What matters most is cost-per-use. What would be considered expensive to person A isn’t so for person B, if person B is going to use it a lot more than person A would.
Buying a really nice fishing rod would be expensive and unnecessary to me because I never fish. Buying a nice outdoor grill cart/prep station would not be wasteful to me since I use my Blackstone griddle 4-5 times per week on average. So I bought a nice grill cart.
I also buy a nice pair of sunglasses about every 5 years (typically $200+ in value). For me, I like high-quality lenses, and I wear my sunglasses almost every day while driving. Here then is the math on a $250 pair of sunglasses:
52 weeks x 6 days = 312 days of use per year
312 days X 5 years = 1,560 days of use overall
$250 ÷ 1560 = $0.16 cost per day
Whether I wear my sunglasses 100 times or 1,560 times, I still spent $250 of real money. However, the cost-per-use of the sunglasses makes a bigger investment worth it to me to have a high-quality pair of sunglasses.
If you have a new purchase coming up, cost-per-use is an extremely valuable metric to consider. What might be a high cost-per-use for someone else may be a low cost-per-use for you. If you are going to use something a lot or over a long period of time, you’ll almost always regret going the cheaper route.
Cost-per-use > overall cost.
💬 2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS
I. Marshall McLuhan on adapting and evolving:
“Resenting a new technology will not halt its progress.”
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II. Thomas Mitchell, a farmer, on how to get things done:
“It is wonderful how much work can be got through in a day, if we go by the rule—map out our time, divide it off, and take up one thing regularly after another. To drift through our work, or to rush through it in a helter-skelter fashion, ends in comparatively little being done.
‘One thing at a time’ will always perform a better day’s work than doing two or three things at a time. By following this rule, one person will do more in a day than another does in a week.”
💯 1 RESOURCE I RECOMMEND
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
The point of working hard, focusing, and getting things done efficiently is not so that we can just continue to do more and more things. We need to rest, relax, and enjoy life as well. In one of my all-time favorite books, Comer shares why an unhurried life is so important and how to take steps to achieve it in your own life.
🤯 1 INTERESTING FACT
Brain information travels up to 268 miles per hour. When a neuron is stimulated, it generates an electrical impulse that travels from cell to cell. A disruption in this regular processing can cause an epileptic seizure.
Source: NM Medicine
🤔 1 QUESTION TO LEAVE YOU WITH
When you have a good day, what is one habit that tends to be included in that day? Can you find time for that habit today?
