I ran down a rabbit hole to save ~$150 this week. I'm sure I lost out on much more cash. As my brother says, I was "tripping over nickles to pick up pennies".
My phone power button broke off from the circuit board. I thought I'm sure I can just solder that thing back on! So I borrowed Norman's (my father-in-law) soldering iron on Christmas and wasted 2 days shopping for the proper tools (which are surprisingly difficult to find) and attempting to solder the button back on. I'm sure for a pro, this is a 20 minute or less job. But the button is so close to the processors that I just couldn't get it to go right. 2 days missing from my online course prep.
I was going to try to launch the course by the end of the year and probably could have made several thousand dollars in the time I wasted. I was talking with Kaylee (an employee) about doing the things you are passionate about and delegating the rest when it became instantly clear that I should have been working on the course and ordered a new phone right away (the old one is 4 years old already anyway). I can learn to solder better and order the proper tools online later when I have a little more free time. Maybe the kids will get a 4 year old smart phone one day.
This is such an alluring rabbit hole for me. "I'll just try welding it on for a few minutes" I say to myself. Then I pop the back and don't have the right Torx bit. So off to the store (one of my least favorite things). I get everything opened and try to solder and make a mess of it, decide I'll use solder paste instead. Off to the store the next day (I don't want to take a few days to order the right stuff online...I need this fixed now, right!?). Unfortunately the store doesn't carry de-solder wicks. So I come home with a bag full of stuff I can't use yet: flux, butane, solder paste. Do I order the wicks, now I'm in $40 in equipment and several hours of time...a new phone is only $120. It's not like I have a super nice one.
Alas, when I upgrade the phone, they will auto-update my plan and I will pay $5 more each month. An increase from $10 to $15. Whatever will I do. That's another $60 per year! Ack. I'll make more than the cost of the phone and increase in plan if I just get the course "shipped" and sell a single copy. Let alone the recurring $20/month subscription. So focussed on the wrong thing. I probably shouldn't mess with it even if it only did take an hour. But this is a rabbit hole, my friend. It starts with 5 minutes, then never ends!
The Million Dollar Lesson to be learned here: Stay on task! Even when there is an intriguing rascally rabbit that just jumped down a whole. The phone is inconvenient. Don't let it ruin the whole week. Get back to your area of expertise!
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