How Do You Spend Your Time-Dollars?
I was recently talking to someone about how he spends his time. He was spending extra time playing video games that he didn’t like because he was invested in the story. He contended that he wouldn’t pay for the game, but because he borrowed them and they were therefore free, it was worth it. I then asked him how many hours he would likely invest in the game. He answer about 15 hours. I then asked him how much he makes per hour at his job, $10. So apparently his time is worth $10 per hour, and at 15 hours that game would essentially cost him $150.
Today, most people are much more flippant with their time than they are with their money. The waste time on TV shows they don’t really like, or reading books they don’t enjoy, or doing tasks that aren’t that important and won’t contribute to their future success. A simple solution to help you determine if your time is spent wisely is to turn your hours into dollars. If you make $25 an hour, every hour is worth $25. If you waste an hour per day on TV shows you don’t like, at then end of the year you’ve blown over $9000! Was it worth it?
You can use this for anything. If you spend 2 hours just being bitter at your spouse because they did this, that or the other thing, was it worth $50 to be angry?
Now, I’m not saying that all time should be spent on making money, or on things that are productive. I make $40 an hour. I also spend 2-3 hours every evening with my wife watching TV and enjoying her company. Is that worth $80-120 to me? Absolutely. Would it be worth $80-120 to spend an afternoon with my son (someday, I have no kids right now)? Absolutely. The idea is simply to turn your time into something you already can quantify, and see if it’s being used properly. TIme is the only resource you can never get back.
I was first introduced to this concept in Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek. He contends that if a task will take you 2 hours, and you make $25 an hour, then it would cost you $50 to do. But if you could pay someone else $30 to do it, then you have a net gain of $20. Even if it isn’t money in your pocket, it’s time in your pocket, which is just as important.
Take a few minutes and figure out how much your time is worth. Then ask yourself the question “Am I spending my time-dollars wisely?” “Is this a wise investment?” If the answer isn’t yes, then you should probably be doing something else.