I Think I Should Leave
Zoom's "Bye, Bitch"
What are opportunity costs?
Life is about making choices. From the life-altering "Should I shave my head into a mohawk again?" to the daily "Should I eat this whole bag of peanut M&Ms?".
Every time we say "yes" to something, we essentially give a big "no" to a multiverse of other possibilities. That is the opportunity cost.
Now, readers of this substack will know that the past two years of my life, financially, have been the best and worst of times. From a narcissistic boss that triggered enough stress to call the crisis hotline (988) to be so knocked loose that I left my computer at my sister’s house on Christmas last year (an hour away) because my regular day-to-day focus was just fucked, and I was at the lowest my self-esteem had been at in over 20 years.
Now the financial - it’s all my fault. I'm a terrible bookkeeper and a freelancer (which is why you should hire me to do your podcast editing and leave the bookkeeping to the pros!)
A deadly combination! The IRS doesn’t care about either of these things, and I want to pay my taxes as a part of the public trust, but they don’t make it easy with nearly $10k in ‘self-employment tax.’ Bootstraps, Am I Right?
The more money I made, the more clients and success I had, and the more money I owe Uncle Sam! We all know that money is going from the lowest earners to the highest earners in our economy these days.
It’s counter-intuitive, but I dropped some things I was working on this year, so I wouldn’t owe as much money for taxes! However, the real reason I dropped having nearly 15 clients to about 4 or 5 was the ability to focus on and do better work for the smaller number of clients.
I think a lot about this as we enter this new year.
It's the ultimate "what if" lurks behind every decision, like when you choose to stay in and buckle down on freelance work instead of hitting the town to see your friend’s band. (Spoiler alert: your friend will appreciate the support.)
Second-guessing is your new best friend.
This past weekend, I had a friend stay over the weekend. My weekends are usually filled with catching up on projects, podcasts, laundry, and work that I didn’t have time to finish during the week. This weekend was different. Still recovering from my surgery and eating soft foods, my friend and I stayed up late discussing (and solving) the world’s problems. We made coffee and tea, some of us (not me!) got high, and we watched Unfrosted. We met up out at da clerb and saw a legendary Boston band (he came from Chicago to see them) and interfaced (and in some cases, avoided) many old friends and people that we hadn’t seen in years!
I almost stayed on the couch or toiled away at Final Cut Pro all night, but I got into an Uber and saw the headliner play. I had already worked on comedy shows at this club twice that week. My E-Ticket got me in for free.
Stacey was on a ski trip (hilarious because she took a cue from my Mom’s ski trip style, stayed in, ate food, and played Nintendo Switch instead of skiing or snowboarding), so I had the house to myself. Plus one — a welcome houseguest that helped me stave off my usual loneliness when she goes away for the weekend.
I ate soft eggs, oatmeal, tortillas, and apple sauce. We made pots of coffee (the real stuff, as Stacey is now averse to caffeine or THC, and we have a new unilateral 2024 agreement on our consumption of these things in the house after the great “Left the Burner on Again Incident, Summer 2024”) and bangers from the Irish bodega down the street. Did I mention we solved all of the world’s problems?
My opportunity cost this past weekend was to prioritize actual human IRL connection with my friend I talk with only online or through text. My first house guest since we moved to this place, if you can believe it. Stacey even made our couch into a mini-bed before she left (I’m happy on the couch as is, but she can make a sleeping nest when we are camping, which would put a 5-star hotel to shame).
I certainly didn’t rack up any more billable hours, and we’re just coming out of the holiday hangover in general, but you know what? It’s alright. I paid for our Uber rides and even sent him to the airport because as much as I “Jam Econo,” my Uber to the airport was a nice little gift to send my friend off right. Waiting for the MBTA and Silver Line connection is a good but not great way to get to the airport from here. And I’ll be able to expense that Uber ride at the end of the year anyway.
What’s the opportunity cost of working 70+ hours a week if you don’t take an unexpected break? I certainly don’t want to end up in the emergency room again this year or feel disconnected from my network of friends.
I had an old boss that asked me to go out for some free drinks at some event just a few hours before a spoken word set one night, but I had the screws to me to finish out some projects before the end of the day. I said, “I gotta get caught up. I can’t just go out.”
He said something that stuck. “You’ll never be caught up, let’s go.”
And we went. And I've never been caught up since. Because, yes, he was right. The work keeps coming in. The bands play more shows. The churn of daily tasks comes at you like Lucy in the chocolate factory.
It’s OK. Do your best, and don’t let the opportunity to hang out with your friends keep you chained to your desk. Don’t pay that cost.
Zoom’s latest update has this icon I’ve used for the artwork for this post. It’s a little person headed out the door of the meeting. I love it, and every time I look at it, I make up a New Yorker cartoon caption. Is he leaving the meeting because someone won’t shut up about themselves? Is he going to check on the quarterly reports? Is the podcast over now? Is he headed out to see a band? Slack and Zoom were ruined for me (see narcissistic boss above), so I’m glad to be that little guy sometimes.
Headed out of the meeting to fucking do something else. Headed toward opportunity. Headed out to see friends. Headed out to mentor someone struggling to figure it out for themselves. Headed out to get a coffee or a burrito. Headed toward the movie theater.
Hopefully, I'm not going in through that door only to be like Pac-Man and open the door to another Zoom meeting in the upper left. If you do too many of those, you’ll glitch out.
Highly recommend making a pot of coffee and conversation over some bangers instead.
