Opportunity cost is an important first step in thinking like an economist. Money is limited. So you have to be smart with this. Opportunity cost is the thing that stares you in the face every time you make a decision. And it's amplified every time you do it wrong. Opportunity cost is the best alternative to the choice you just made. If you are making a choice between being a professional baseball player or a professional football player. You need to look very closely at the benefits of both. One advantage of football is that if you're good enough you can make more money than a baseball player through endorsements and having your own shoe etc. Earning more money is an advantage of football. One of the advantages of baseball is that it is a much safer sport, but baseball players are not very marketable celebrities, so don't expect huge sponsorship deals. Now is the time to make a decision. Let's say you choose baseball. You like the benefits of getting money faster and you don't want to get hurt. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Opportunity cost becomes football. You made your decision based on the benefits and cost. Of course, you could have made more money from football. But the benefit of choosing a safer sport outweighs the cost of lower pay. See, you thought like an economist and chose the option that had the greatest benefit and lowest cost... Or you could pull a Bo Jackson and do both. Another example would be if you are craving pizza. But let's say you're a little weird and Homerun Inn Pizza is your favorite type of pizza. Let's say you're also incredibly lazy and don't feel like making pizza. So you order a pizza for delivery. Even though delivery pizza is more expensive and you don't enjoy it as much, it was still worth it. The cost of spending more money on lower quality pizza outweighs the horror of doing something and making your own pizza..