When I dropped my children at school this morning, one of the mums was having a bit of a meltdown, overwhelmed by everything she had going on in her life. This got me thinking about the value of time and how you spend the time you have.
Like so many others, my life is extremely busy with a husband, three young children and two businesses, but I often get asked how I stay on top of it all. I admit I am extremely organised and I prioritise what I have to get done daily. But there are still times where I have felt completely overwhelmed by what needs to get done and I have to reassess where I am at.
What I have learnt over the past few years is that you have to put a value on your time as you can’t do all of this and expect your relationships, family, health or business not to suffer. You need to put an actual dollar value on your time whether this is for activities at home or at work.
For example, say I value my time at $300 per hour. This is the value I believe I can charge for my knowledge and experience to clients. So for every hour I am not earning $300 I need to look at whether the tasks I am doing are adding $300 in value to our business or not. This means that I then look at everything I have on my ‘to do’ list and decide whether or not I should be doing those activities, whether someone in my team should be doing them or if I should be outsourcing.
I don’t just implement this philosophy with work, but the same theory applies to home. If I can pay someone to clean my house for less than $300 an hour, then I don’t do it. If I can shop online, but have to pay postage rather than go to the store and pick up, the cost of postage is not worth my time, so I purchase online and have it delivered to my door.
There is no denying that it is a constant challenge to manage and balance your work life with your family. But if you understand the value of your time, then you can decide how you want to spend it. Don’t feel guilty. If you can earn more money and add more value than what it would cost you to delegate or outsource then do it!
Think about the value you put on your time……. are there things you do that you shouldn’t? Make a list, start delegating and find people to outsource tasks to.
You can’t buy back time and you want to spend the time you have with the ones you care about the most!