What is My Time Worth? 3 Things to Consider

I watched a TEDx Talk this morning that resonated with me because it piggybacked well on the posts I have been publishing and will be publishing within the next week. The overall theme of my posts and this Talk: What is My Time Worth?

There are many factors to consider when addressing this question, but here are a few inspired by Leonard Skinner:

1. You will spend about 32% of your adult, waking hours either working or commuting to work. (If you’d like to know how I came up with this %, let me know in the comments.) And I actually think that’s a little on the low end. So the question becomes, how much is 1/3 of my life worth to me? If you’re spending this time working at a job that you hate, it better be well worth it somehow. There is no way you can justify giving up 1/3 of your life to pursue something you hate.
2. You spend 5-7 hours of your work week paying for your transportation to get to your job. (Keep scrolling for a chart that shows what every hour of your week pays for.) Obviously, this is going to vary greatly depending on where you live and work, but it’s a pretty good estimate. So, assuming you work 40 hours per week, about 15% of that time is spent so that you can perform that work to begin with. Then, think about how much you spend on lunches, work clothes, and medication to deal with the stress, and you’ll realize you’re in the middle of a vicious circle of having to work to make money so that you can work. Yikes!
3. You don’t get your time back – ever! Yes, we all know this, and, yes, we all conveniently forget it almost every day. That’s why we need to be constantly reminded of it. And that’s why your time is priceless. Don’t waste another minute of it on mediocrity. It’s time to Deliberately Think about what you are going to do with that time.

Keep scrolling for concluding thoughts.