Sooner or later, everyone realizes time is our most important asset, it is limited and we have to appreciate it and use it as much as we can. If you lose money – you will earn it back or simply make some more. If you waste your time though, you will never ever be able to make up for the time you lost. So today I’d like to share some thoughts – to help you better value your time.
First, let me put something out of the way – this is not about a calculator of some kind.
I was amazed to see how many people are asking Google about calculators to help them put a number on their time value. Really? Do we seriously think that a calculator online will help us really evaluate how much money is our time worth?
Let me spare you some time – it’s priceless. And only you can decide what the best way to spend your time is, regardless of what some calculator tells you.
Sure, the logic “if my hour is worth $20 and I can hire a house keeper for $10 per hour” has some merit – maybe it’s better to hire that house keeper instead of wasting my time in cleaning my house. However, a calculator could never make this decision for you – maybe you like cleaning your house? Maybe it helps you relax? Or maybe while cleaning your house you come up with the craziest business ideas which then bring you money? Is it then reasonable to outsource the house cleaning to someone whose hourly wage is lower than your hour value?
So, today I’ll share my insights about how to value your time.
Your time is priceless, period. No matter what a “what’s my time worth” calculator tells you – you cannot put a price tag on your time. And as soon as you learn to value it, it’ll be easy to decide when to do something yourself and when to outsource it. What’s more important – you will be aware of how limited your time is and with time, you’ll learn how to spend it wisely.
Let me give you an example. I think it’s illegal in North America to fix your car in your driveway or garage. I don’t know if there’s a similar law in Europe but I know a lot of people who like rolling up their sleeves and keeping themselves busy under the hood. They spend hours of their valuable time trying to fix something which may take just an hour to fix if you gave the job to a professional mechanic whose job is fixing cars.
So, is it worth your time to fix your car? Let’s see…
If it were my car, it would be a total waste of my time. I hardly know what’s under my hood, let alone – how it works or how to fix it. I would have to spend hours, maybe even days reading about car structure and operations model, then looking around and feeling scared if I will get knocked off by the engine because I have approached it the wrong way and forgotten there’s electricity in the battery.
On the other hand, I have friends who’d give an arm to spend some time in their garage fixing something which may not even be broken. They live and breathe fixing cars as a hobby. They enjoy the time spent buried in car parts and figuring out how things work.
Rolling up their sleeves and looking under the hood is their way of relaxing. Who’s to say it’s not worth their time?
Valuing your time is not about putting a price tag to it.
When you have a problem to solve or need help, don’t try to do it on your own – find a professional whose job is to fix such problems and provide clients with such help. If it’s your hobby – then it’s fine to do it on your own, but it has nothing to do with how much your time is worth.
Everybody likes free stuff, right? Free blogging platform, free theme, free sandwich, free pack of something (if you buy 2, the second one is free!) – but is it really free?
As a marketer, I can tell you right away – everything is calculated in the price! If you struck a deal for a free something in the store, you can be sure you are paying for it in some other way… if you are a blogger who likes free blogging tools, again – you are paying for all free stuff with your time or forgone benefits.
Alright, you are tweaking your free theme instead of paying someone to do it – but have you thought of the foregone profits of your time? If you were not tweaking your free theme, you may have been doing whatever-you-do-for-a-living and you would have made money to pay a professional do the tweaking for you, and quicker, too!
I loved this post. It was both educational and entertaining. 🙂
By the way, it is not illegal to fix your car in the driveway in Canada (a large part of North America) as far as I know. However, I don’t own a car, so I could be wrong. (But I doubt that I am… although, if I am, someone can correct me.)
I’m like you, Diana, I don’t know much about cars.
I do know that I value my time, though. Which is why I am raising my editing prices yet again on Sept. 1, 2014. 😀
I have heard someone tell me that it’s illegal in Canada and in some states in the US (hence – the “i think” part and the North America generalization), and maybe it also matters if it’s your private garage or public space in front of your apartment building… But when i think about it, it is totally irrelevant to the time-wroth aspect – i shouldn’t have added it at all 😀
Congrats on raising your prices once more, Lorraine!
No such thing as a free anything, right? The time commodity is valued in so many different ways by different people! If you do freelance or consulting, your time is limited…there is only so much of you that can go around…a limited period of time in every day
right, if we talk solely about work, Jacquie, i would say you can definitely put a price tag to your time and that price tag would increase as dos the demand for your services 😀
This of course doesn’t mean you have to put that same price tag to your time when you do other non-work related things. The price tag is for your clients only 😉
Totally agree. I had an issue with spam in my email the last couple of weeks. My host company sent me the instructions on how to go into my C-panel and the steps to set up filters, etc. I could have done it. But I’m not a techy and that’s the last thing I wanted to do so I paid my webmaster to fix it. Loved when his email arrived and he said it was all done. My time is more valuable doing something else.
Excellent example, Jeannette – this is exactly what i am talking about. Hope your comment and example will help even more people understand the concept of valuing your time 😀
Hi diana; i love how you emphasize the point that time is priceless and how you value it depends on what you love doing. I don’t enjoy maintaining my website, and it would make more sense for me to turn it over to a webmaster. but i have separation anxiety and don’t feel comfortable hiring someone to look after my site. i love ashley faults and lorraine reguly is a great editor but turning it all over is just not in me. 🙂 enjoy your travels. hope to be out there myself soon, max
I see what you mean with the separation anxiety, Max. I would just say that a moment will come when you will value your time more than you feel anxious about delegating. When that moment comes, you will feel better, you’ll see 😀
Thanks for your best wishes – i am finally home and catching up with comments, reading, emails, and all. I think i’ll need a week to bring myself up to date 😀
How’s your indiegogo campaign going? I hope you’ll hit the road soon, too!
Excellent post Diana!
And you’re s right when you point out, that sometimes people may have specific reason for doing something, other than obvious.
As you mentioned, perhaps cleaning their house or working under the hood of their car or doing minor repairs on their house, stimulates their creative side or perhaps provides many other benefits etc.
And I really love your advice about properly valuing your extremely valuable time, is not about putting a price tag on it!
That’s really great advice! Thanks! This was mu first visit to your blog, but it definitely will not be my last!
Thanks for your positive feedback, Mark – i am glad this post inspired you! Looking forward to seeing you around again then 😉