Daily Quote: “The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.” Warren G. Bennis
You’ve written down your goals, you’ve put together an action plan and now you are ready to go for it. Before you launch yourself into prolonged activity it might be worth it to work out what the bottom line will be when you’ve achieved success.
Working out the bottom line means you work out what the costs will be. The costs are not necessarily only associated with financial costs but may also be broader and include relationship and personal costs, time costs and resources costs.
Let’s have a look at the money costs first. If your dream is to own a racing car and start a career in racing the costs are going to be substantial even if you only take part in this activity over a week-end. There are many hidden costs involved.
You will need to have a car. Add to that the extra bits that need to be added to the car in order to make it a quick car. This could involve a huge amount of modification to the engine as well as the chasis, the installation of a better driver’s seat with a safety harness replacing the traditional seatbelts.
Add to that the costs of the tyres that need replacing after or even during a race, depending of course the length of the race. Then there are other items such as tools that you need at the race course, oils, air pumps, petrol costs, race course entrance fees and many more incidentals.
Further costs would be involved if you had an accident and needed to have the car repaired. Your personal costs are needing to be fitter to withstand the physical stresses of the race. Then you would need to have the understanding of your family because of all the time you will spend on the race course plus traveling to different venues to take part in meets.
You will see that what seemed to be an easy little hobby to take up will cost a huge amount in time and money. Will your personal and financial circumstances handle this kind of commitment?
The same calculations need to be made if you want to go back to University and study again. You might have this dream that you would like to add an MBA to your existing qualification. An MBA will definitely enhance your career prospect and will assist with your climb up the corporate ladder.
However, have a look at the financial costs involved. A very good Business School such as the London Business School will charge you a cool £40 000 for tuition fees. Over and above that you need to be able to give up work for that period of time. Then you have to add onto that the costs of your time.
Will you be able to leave your other commitments for this period of time? There are many couples that get divorced when one of the partners attempts such a strenuous learning programme. Will your relationships cope?
Working out the costs of goal will be vitally important. Only finding out half way through your plan that the end result is going to cost you far too much will mean you will waste an awful amount of time on a goal that is beyond your mind.
