We all want to know what our time is worth and if we are using it wisely. But we don’t always think about the cost of our time in a professional setting. If you’re curious as to if you are getting the most value out your time and money, then look no further as here, we will discuss how to make every second count.
Opportunity cost
Your time is a valuable commodity, so you need to treat how you invest it as important as how you invest your money. It is also true that the more successful you become in your chosen field, the more valuable your time is. One of the major things to consider is the concept of opportunity cost. This is essentially weighing the cost of hiring someone to do a job against the time it would take you to complete yourself.
Personal
This concept of Opportunity Cost often comes quite naturally to us in our personal lives. For example, when you are younger and have less disposable income, you are more likely to do jobs yourself like decorating your home or maintaining your garden because you quite simply cannot afford to do otherwise. Investing your time essentially becomes the default option. But when you are older and earning a better wage, you can decide if using your spare time is more or less important than paying what it would cost a decorator or gardener to work for you.
Professional
When you begin in business, just like a young person with a small wage in the previous example, you just do not have the resources to do anything but take on many jobs you can yourself, because at this point your time is your most significant resource. Working as much as possible is the way to make your business successful at the outset. But when you begin to grow and expand, you now have to opportunity to outsource your labor to others as you can afford to do so. You also know that at this point your time is spent better elsewhere.
Cost
The concept of Opportunity Cost is not simply what you could charge for your hour of work; it is the worth you create by working on something in which you excel. This amount will only increase as your talents increase and your ideas grow. So there comes a time when spending money makes more sense than spending your time as it has become such a valuable commodity. There is a difference between being frugal and knowing your worth.
There is a reason that highly successful people often hire others to do simple things they could do themselves – because they know the value of their time. In the future, think about what your time is worth to you. Contemplate the opportunity cost of the thing that you are working on and see if you would be better spending your time on another project, or just as importantly on yourself. It can sometimes seem extravagant to spend money on problems you could fix yourself, but in some situations, it’s the best thing you could do.
