There is a question we ask each time we are contemplating making a buying decision. We seek the answer to this question so as to provide ourselves with the information necessary to assess whether the purchase or investment we are contemplating will provide good value for the money paid, whether the fee being charged is reasonable and whether our present financial circumstances render this an affordable purchase.

The question is, of course, “How much is this?”

Once we have the answer, we instinctively draw a conclusion, e.g. it’s expensive, or it’s a lot of money, or it’s a great deal, and we then complete the purchase, or we don’t.

The True Price

It is necessary to determine whether something is expensive, or a lot of money, even though those determinations are purely subjective as expensive is a comparable term – in order for something to be expensive, something else has to be cheap – or a lot of money, which is purely determined by our perspective and not by any objective measure.

Depending on the product or service we are buying there is potentially a second question that we all too often overlook in our quest to determine value and affordability.

In one of our recent chats we talked of the importance of asking the right questions. We determined that good answers only come from good questions and that often the first question that comes to mind may well also be the worst question that comes to mind.

And all too often that is the case when we ask, “How much?”

The more important question, the one we seldom think to ask is this: “How much is the cost of not doing this?”

Recently a client shared with me that the most expensive mistake she had ever made was in cancelling her gym membership because she convinced herself it was too expensive.

That decision triggered the start of a life spent on the couch, not at the gym, and in the matter of a few short years of inactivity, her eating habits changed, her weight ballooned, and she had recently been diagnosed with Type II diabetes.

Just this week another client lamented his decision to save the cost of an MBA. His career was stalled, he felt his prospects were bleak and he repeated a quote I have not heard in years: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

He said that at the time he made his decision the cost seemed awfully high and that he felt the money could be far more wisely spent on financial, rather than educational investments.

Sadly, for him, those investments did not yield the hoped-for returns and he has yet to experience the career success he now believes an MBA would have helped him attain.

The Two Costs

Everything in life comes with two price tags. There is a price for doing something and a price for doing nothing. Most often the price of doing something is immediate and is therefore the determining factor in our decision-making. The price for doing nothing is one we may not face for a very long time, but by the time we realize how much greater the price of doing nothing is than the price of doing something, the price of now doing something may well have escalated well beyond our means.

Several years ago, I visited a long-time acquaintance as he was spending his few remaining days in a hospital bed.

A life-long smoker he told me how bitterly he regretted his frequent decisions to light a cigarette after a few difficult days of trying to quit. Between painful breaths he expressed how he always chose to smoke a cigarette because it was an easier price than the price of toughing it out for a few days or weeks.

He pointed out that the price he was now paying was the result of the price he had chosen not to pay in the past.

As I held his hand and hugged him for the last time, he looked up at me and in a bare whisper made me promise to never say no because the price is too high, but, before saying no, to always seek to understand the other price – the consequence of not saying yes.

And what I have learned since then is that the price of thoroughly and completely evaluating the price of saying yes is, in itself, a very small price to pay.

Merely a tiny fraction of the price of not paying it.

Just one more thing…

You, me, all of us share the same goal. You want to be happy. Of course, happiness is uniquely defined by each of us and you agree that happiness is the result of the attainment of your desires.

You know getting there requires complete mastery of your emotions in order to create and sustain powerful, new habits which must include the habit of an unconquerable mindset and the certainty of supreme confidence in yourself and your abilities.

And there are daunting barriers that are keeping you from the life you dream of:

• You struggle with limiting beliefs which hinder your efforts to produce your desired results.
• You feel feelings of inadequacy.
• You experience relentless frustration.
• You increasingly think of giving up.

Living with fear and uncertainty, which are simply products of your mindset and beliefs, is not what you want.

I have been exactly where you are today, and I learned how to do what must be done.

Since then I have helped hundreds of people build the life of their dreams.

And many of those have done this by participating in my OBSESSION – 100 Days to Optimal Performance intense coaching cohort.

OBSESSION begins with a two-day intense workshop and then 100 days of dedicated commitment to personal excellence. During the 100 days you will interact weekly with your chosen cohort partner and meet with me up to 10 times for one-on-one personal coaching.

After 100 days you will look like you look today but everything else about you will be different.

And this summer, for the first and only time, I am offering this life-changing opportunity to a few brave and adventurous people for a 50% discount off the standard price.

But only for a short time.

This discounted offer will never be repeated. And only 20 seats are available.

We need to talk. Call me at 403 802 3476 or email me at rael@strategicpathways.net and schedule a meeting to discover what OBSESSION will do for you.

Henry David Thoreau said: The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.

OBSESSION will have you belting out your songs for the entire world to hear.

You will sculpt the life you have always wanted and become your own hero.

Call 403 802 3476 or email rael@strategicpathways.net