Opportunity Cost

My big realisation of the moment is that there's a cost in a foregone opportunity for every action you take or don't take.

To put it another way, resources (whether money, time, energy or whatever) are always limited and therefore you have to decide how you prioritise things. You may have a hundred good ideas but if you only have the resources to implement ten of them then ninety good ideas are going to have to fall by the wayside. This clearly is not a startling discovery, but in some ways it is hard to put into practice because you need to see the big picture and the opportunity costs before you can.

In this organisation we have a diverse membership with a variety of different perspectives and priorities which is a large part of what gives the Union its vibrancy and relevancy. These cannot, however, all be incorporated into the priorities the Union takes on and the role of student leaders is partly in taking decisions on what gets prioritised.

It is therefore important to have people in position to do this, which is why I'm glad that we have by-election nominations to cover all the vacant positions on Students' Union Council. The student officers and students' union councillors are the people that take the decisions in the Union and if you don't like what's happening then come and speak to one of the officers or let your councillor know. Nevertheless, part of the art of this job is learning to say no.