Chasing Owed Money vs Making Money

I’m owed $1,100.

I’m not going to ever see that money. It’s owed to me from a company that ran out of cash and could no longer pay their employees.

The owner has every intention of paying people back, but it’s not going to happen. Intentions are meaningless.

I could chase the owed money. Get a lawyer. Go to a small claims court. Threaten legal action.

But I’m not going to.

The effort I’d put in would likely be unfruitful.

The money is gone.

I want the money back.

But life doesn’t care what we want. It presents us with options.

The option I have is to chase the owed money or focus on making money.

What would happen if I chased the owed money?

I’d spend hours filling out forms, contacting legal advice, maybe a court appearance. Not unreasonable to think it could suck up 10-20 hours of my time, at minimum.

What would be the result? Potentially the money, though very unlikely. Even if the money is legally declared mine, it doesn’t exist.

But what if I did get the money? It would be nice, but I wouldn’t be any smarter. I wouldn’t have helped anyone in that time. I wouldn’t have made any meaningful connections. I wouldn’t have provided anything of value to anyone.

I’d be collecting money for staying in neutral.

It is a sunk loss.

Instead, I’m thinking of the future.

In 20 hours I could read 2-3 books that could change my life.

I could connect with 40 people and send them ideas.

I could write at least 20 blog posts.

I could experiment with the new DSLR I picked up.

There is so much to do in life, it’s not worth being stuck spinning your tires.

Connect with me on Twitter: @BenNesvig