The power of valuing your time

In today's increasingly fast-paced world, time has become a commodity that is highly valued and sought after. Given you're reading this newsletter, I expect that many of you are like me in a constant pursuit of finding ways to maximise the output of your time and making the most of every moment. Yet, despite its importance, many of us struggle to truly grasp the value of our time.

Knowing the true value of our time is critical for personal and professional growth. When we understand the value of our time, we become more intentional with how we spend it. We prioritise the things that truly matter and eliminate the distractions that hold us back, raising productivity and life satisfaction. Think about all the times you've been extremely low on time for something and as a result been extremely productive with that time.

Valuing your time

One way to assess the value of your time is to think about what you would be willing to trade it for. If you were offered a side job that pays £100 per hour and would be happy to accept it, you could conclude that you value your time at £100 per hour. For those of us that don't work on an hourly or project basis, working out our effective hourly rate from our salaried employment can be a useful starting point.

Having just a rough monetary value can be extremely helpful for make decisions about how to allocate time, such as decisions about whether to take on a new project or pursue a new opportunity.

I personally think it's true power on a day to day basis comes from being better at turning things down. I wrote at the start of this year about starting by subtracting when it comes to habit formation, and we can take this idea and critically examine how we use our time daily.

Let's say I feel like I spend too much time ironing shirts on a Sunday evening. If I consider the cost of dry-cleaning and find that to be lower than the value I assign to the time it would take to complete the task, then paying for someone else to do it for me could boost my productivity and general life satisfaction from having more time.

Implementation idea

Have a think about the monetary value that you would assign to an hour of your time. With this value in mind, would you change some aspect about how you spend your time, or trade your time for money?

Time is a finite resource and a precious commodity. Unlike money, you cannot earn more time – once it's gone, it's gone forever. Be intentional with how you spend your time, making sure you are using it in ways that bring you closer to your goals and is adding value to your life.

Best, Alex Joshi.

On my bedside table:

• Podcast: The Tim Ferriss show - Dr Mathew Walker on all things sleep - part 2 to the episode I linked last week (link)

And finally, if you're enjoying this content and know people that would get value from this newsletter, please share it, it would also support me massively. Thank you!