Have you ever left your desk, your office, or a meeting feeling like you totally wasted the last hour (or more) of your life?
Have you ever sat down to do "one quick thing" and ended up scratching your brain an hour later trying to remember what that "one quick thing" was?
On the flip side, do you remember how you felt the last time you had a super productive day and accomplished everything on your to do list (and more)?
I LOVE being productive, getting stuff done, crossing things off my list, and making progress… however, I've had way too many days when I feel sorely disappointed knowing that I was overly distracted, frequently interrupted, and not nearly as productive as what I could or should have been.
Of course, some amount of wasted time is inevitable each and every day. However, over the last few years, I've been consciously working to reduce the amount of time I waste on non-productive and unnecessary activities… and I've been doing it by placing a dollar value to my time (I'll explain more below).
I run my own business and charge an hourly rate for most of my services… however, as many of you know, there are hundreds of other things I need to do each week to keep my business running — and I don't necessarily get a paycheck as a direct result of those hours.
If you can relate, you know just how easy it is to waste time since we're technically not "on the clock".
- Yes, I'm working — but it can't hurt if I quickly scan Craigslist to see if they have the one item I'm looking for.
- Yes, I'm sending client emails — but it can't hurt if I just scan through my personal ones too.
- Yes, I'm uploading new marketing content to Facebook and Twitter — but it can't hurt if I just take "a minute" to browse through the lastest pictures of my friends' vacations.
- Yes, I'm in the middle of brainstorming and goal setting — but it can't hurt if my coworker just pops in to chat for a couple minutes.
I could go on and on.
None of these activities are bad activities, but they can be big time wasters — and if you start thinking about how much time you waste each day in terms of a business expense… you might have a different perspective on things!
How much is your time worth?
Let's just say you change $50 per hour for your business services, and then let's say you end up wasting 4 hours every day on the activities I listed above.
That would basically equate to throwing $200 down the drain every single day — and it could be considerably more depending on your normal hourly rate.
How's that for a new perspective!
I don't personally know anyone who would willing throw out $200 or more with nothing in return, and I certainly don't know any business person would be happy about losing hundreds of dollars of profit each week. Do you?
I realize that you aren't really throwing physical cash down the drain, but this idea of placing a value on your time should serve as a fabulous motivator to waste less time each day — I know it works really well for me!
So the next time you find yourself sucked in to social media, scrolling aimlessly through emails and online shopping sites, or chatting it up with all your coworkers, stop and think about the value of your time — and if it would be work $25, $50, or $100 for you to be doing what you're doing.
Placing a dollar value on your time will help you determine what you are and are not willing to spend time on… and don’t sell yourself short. Your time is valuable!
Establish how much your time is worth and use that value to make decisions on how you will spend it from now on.
So, how much is your time worth?