Cost-Benefit Analysis on Future Lifestyles

From Future Tense (via The Future of Work): Thirtysomethings and disaffection with corporate life, which outlines an anecdotal trend seeing ladder-climbers getting off the ladder when they hit their early thirties:

"Being logical women, we did a cost-benefit analysis of the previous 9 years and, while the benefits were high, the costs were high too -- and growing. Both of us made similar decisions: We walked. Katie is starting her studies for her master's degree full time in the fall. I slept for about six months, fell into consulting, and realized I loved being an independent."

It's nothing new to recognize that many of us get more in tune with what we actually want when we're feeling more grown up, but I really love the approach at the beginning of the quote -- I don't think we're very good at doing that sort of cost-benefit analysis on all aspects of our lives. It made me think that doing the analysis on the past would be a fine place to start, but even better would be to build skills in doing the cost-benefit analysis on our ideas for the future lifestyles.