November 15th 2007 12:45 pm
Put a value on your time
How much is your time worth? If you normally make $15 an hour for your time then try using that figure in non-work periods of your life. For instance, if you need to get home from the airport and you have a choice of a ten minute cab ride at $10 or a 45 minute bus ride @ $1, it may not be cheaper to ride the bus. Your time is worth around .25 per minute. The bus ride costs you $12.25 when you figure in your time (.25 x 45 + $1.00). The cab ride costs you $10 + $2.50 (ten minutes) but saves you 35 minutes or $8.75. The cab option is $8.50 cheaper when you consider the value of your time.
This exercise is simplistic and leaves out the possibility that you can accomplish other things while riding the bus but it does serve another purpose. Very often we fail to consider the value of our time when we make decisions. It’s penny-wise and pound foolish. Use your valuable time to accomplish those tasks that you are skilled at and use others for their skills. A seventy-five dollar an hour plumber may seem expensive until you spend twelve hours trying to fix something they can take care of in a few minutes.
Knowing the actual value of your time can really change your perspective about outsourcing things you are not skilled at.
If you make $100,000/year, your time is worth .80/minute. Imagine you waste ten minutes arguing over something trivial. Was it worth $8?
No Comments yet »