What I spend is someone else’s income. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs discussed every morning at breakfast with his family about buying a set of Miele washing machines and dryers from Germany for two weeks. Why? Of course, it was to teach their children about economics and to illustrate a lesson about opportunity cost, a common trait among wealthy people. If you buy this washing machine, you cannot buy that one. That is the opportunity cost. It’s a form of relative value, based on the idea that choosing one option means sacrificing another, so the value of each can be compared within those limits. Wealth begins with training in understanding even trivial opportunity costs. To succeed in business, you need to learn how to measure opportunity cost first, rather than just how to make money. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
Doing nothing is also media content. The media showed others something with the obsession that something had to be done. The Norwegian national broadcasting company, NRK, showcased only the scenery of the railroad between Bergen and Oslo for 7 hours and 20 minutes in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the railway’s opening. In 2011, they aired 134 hours of ferry service along the fjord coast. Railroad broadcast ratings were 15% (four times the usual), and ferry broadcasts were watched by 64% of all Norwegians. If you know that humans are not the main characters in our lives, you are guaranteed more fun. Proof of existence and achievement is not everything in our lives. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”