What Is Your Time Worth?

In time management books and time management seminars you've seen charts and graphs depicting the dollar value of each workday hour, depending on your income or the income you want to achieve.

If you use the author or seminar person's numbers, for example, based on an eight hour workday and there are 220 workdays in a year, not counting weekends, holidays and vacations, if you earn $200,000 per year then each hour is worth $113.64.

Now you can calculate what each of your work hours is worth. Let's say you want to earn $100,000 a year. Then each hour figures out to be $56. That shouldn't be tough to earn, right?

The problem with this little formula is it's based on eight-hour workdays. However, no one works eight productive hours every work day. What I mean by productive is "directly generating revenue". How many hours per day do you spend filling out paperwork, driving to and from work, talking to co-workers?

Let's say its one-third productive, two-thirds not and if your honest with yourself, that's pretty generous. (Not good time management) Now you have to multiply the $113.64 times three to get $340.92. This becomes your hourly number for $200,000 per year.

THIS TIME MANAGEMENT TIP WILL INCREASE YOUR INCOME

Now, how does using this time management tip effect how you use your time? First you have to think constantly whether the way you are spending your time is worth $340.92. Applying this time management tip will effect how you spend every hour of the day. How you allow other people to take up your time and it will help you eliminate or delegate tasks or activities that do not match up to the value of your time.

Many salespeople waste their time with clients and projects that are not a good use of their time. I am guilty of it myself at times.

Can you think of some ways that you are wasting time? Are you spending time on low paying tasks that are keeping you from doing what you get paid top dollar for? What changes can you effect to move towards better time management?