Recently, as a part of my morning routine, I’ve been reading small sections at a time of Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, by Oliver Burkeman. One of the sections in the book reminded me of a question that I haven’t thought about in years.
Every Choice Has a Cost
When we are faced with choosing between options, a very useful question is, “What price am I willing to pay?”
Every choice we make has negative as well as positive consequences. When faced with multiple choices, people often want to find an option with no negative consequences, but that almost never exists. Choices always have consequences.
Choosing one path over others has consequences. For example, if I decide to go hiking on Monday morning, that means I’m not going to spend that time developing and writing a blog post. On the other hand, if I choose to stay in my studio and write a blog post, then I miss out on the exercise benefits and enjoyment of hiking.
Applying the Question in Everyday Life
When faced with a choice, the question is: What price am I willing to pay? Years ago, as a minister and chaplain in the United States Air Force, I often used this question in my counseling. I don’t know where I first encountered it, but I know I didn’t come up with it on my own—I’m not that creative or insightful!
People would come to me asking me to help them choose between options, all of which had negative and positive consequences. I found that asking them, “Which price are you willing to pay?” helped them make difficult decisions and feel they had a choice.
Benefits of Embracing the Price of Choice
Using this question has these benefits:
• It clarifies our choices. It forces us to identify each option’s positive and negative consequences. It helps us understand our options and what we are choosing. Sometimes, we fail to consider both the positive and negative consequences of actions.
• It gives us a sense of control. By deciding which price we are willing to pay, we feel empowered and embrace the freedom to choose.
As Oliver Burkeman wrote, “Whatever choice you make, so long as you make it in the spirit of facing the consequences, the result will be freedom in the only sense that finite humans ever get to enjoy it. Not freedom from limitation—which is something we unfortunately never get to experience—but freedom in limitation.”
Weighing the Worst-Case Scenario
A related question I often asked when counseling was: “What is the worst consequence that could happen for each option? If that happened, would it still be a price you’re willing to pay?
This helped people approach their decisions more realistically by identifying and weighing both probable and worse-case consequences.
Own Your Choices: A Framework for Decision-Making
Making decisions is never easy, but asking the right questions can make all the difference. “What price am I willing to pay?” and “Can I live with the worst-case scenario?” are powerful tools to bring clarity and realism to your choices.
By weighing the costs, you take control of your life, owning your decisions instead of letting them own you. As Oliver Burkeman reminds us, freedom doesn’t come from escaping our limitations but from embracing them with intention.
Are you facing a difficult decision in choosing options? Try this approach:
1. List the positive and negative consequences of each option. When considering potential negative consequences ask, “What is the worst that could happen?”
2. Ask: “What price am I willing to pay?”
3. Decide with clarity and confidence
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