Pull the trigger!

I've often times heard people (read "myself") criticizing others for shooting from the hip.  At least that is how it appeared.  As though they spent zero time thinking through a decision and just reacted.

It's one thing if you are in Target with your shopping list and see a deal on something that you just know you'll use (ex. consumables like deodorant, toilet paper, etc).  And it's quite another if you are in Target and you are pulled in by the display of rechargeable, extendable Swiffer ceiling fan sweeper display.  The colors are so vivid, the price is within budget (did you have a Swiffer budget?), the extension is up to 10 feet ... it goes in your cart.  Not a well thought out purchase?  Perhaps.  Especially when you get home and realize you don't have any ceiling fans.  Shooting from the hip, yes.

Please don't shoot from the hip ... but please be able to, as well as, know when to pull the trigger.

I have suffered all my life from not being able to pull the trigger.  Yes, I like most have made impulse purchases.  How else would a 500 piece bucket of Bazooka bubble gum end up in my cart at Costco?  But when it came to buying a new mower or dishwasher, two things I knew I needed, I suffered from analysis paralysis for about two years!

In looking back, I'm pretty sure that I was only looking at how much the items were going to cost and not fully considering the benefits.  Of course, I also didn't want to be separated from my money.  When I finally bought the new lawn mower I realized that it was saving me at least thirty minutes a week because I didn't have to keep stopping to fix the broken wheels!  Over the course of a year of mowing this has to be more than fifteen hours.  Assuming my time is worth something, let's say ten dollars an hour ... the savings in the first year was $150!  The mower (which I paid about $450 for at Lowe's) pays for itself in just three years!

And yes, I did finally buy a new dishwasher, but the benefits calculation was harder for me to quantify. Maybe I am saving on electricity, maybe the dishes are more sanitary, who really knows?  But I can say that I am now able to run the dishwasher, carry on a conversation and do other things in the kitchen at the same time.  Again, my time is money ... so I'm sure the dishwasher will pay for itself in just a few years.

What the heck is my point?  Opportunities can be lost!  Some opportunities do linger, but the "profit" potential from them fades.  Will the mower or dishwasher that I bought be less expensive in two years?  Yes.  But the savings in the meantime likely outweighs the extra cost.

So when opportunity knocks, at least, look through the peephole in your door before dismissing it.  And conversely, every knock on your door is not always an opportunity that you want to take advantage of, look through the peephole before you open the door.