Today's tip is simple, yet hard. When you are making purchasing or managerial decisions, you have three primary factors: good, fast and cheap. Unfortunately you are rarely in a situation where you can have all three. Typically, you can only have two of the three, with the third factor acting as a sacrificial lamb.
Let me give you a few examples:
You can have fast and cheap. I like to call this the "fast food option". You get it fast and it doesn't cost much, but you definitely sacrifice food quality.
You can have fast and good, but it probably won't be cheap. This is more like the "emergency open heart surgery option". It'll be fast, and hopefully the surgeon is really good, but I can promise you it won't be cheap. If it is cheap, run away!
Finally, you can have cheap and good, but it won't be fast. A classic example of this is DIY home projects. Assuming you have the skills to do the project well, you can save a lot of money by not hiring a professional. But between working a full-time job, and all of life's other commitments, these projects tend to take a long time to complete. I can speak from experience on this one!
The big takeaway with this is that if you try to get all three: good, fast and cheap, you will find yourself very frustrated and disappointed. You may get promised all three, but you probably won't get all three in the end. Pick the two that are most important and sacrifice the third.
Is there a decision where you are struggling to find all three? I take some time to evaluate which two elements are most important be willing to sacrifice the third.