If you don’t value your time, either will anyone else.
In this Blog, I challenge you to consider the opportunity cost of time in the tasks you choose to work on. However, I don’t want you just to think of yourself. Think of the individuals and teams within your business.
When scheduling your activities, think about the opportunity cost of each hour or block of time allocated to a particular task.
Is this the best allocation of your time?
What is the cost of you choosing to do Task A over Task B & Task C?
A great hack is to place a notional value on an hour of your time and consider whether allocating time at this hourly charge rate is valuable.
Let’s place a notional value of $200 per hour on your time.
Some questions help illustrate thinking here.
Am I prioritizing important tasks over minor tasks? For example, choosing to collect the mail rather than completing a proposal to a prospect.
Am I not prioritizing time-sensitive tasks over a low-level administration task or non-urgent activity? For example, attending to unimportant email for the first 90 minutes of the morning rather than processing timesheets and completing invoicing to clients.
Does this task result in a potential revenue generating outcome or is it a procedural administrative function that can wait or be delegated to admin support staff?
Can someone else do this task that has a cheaper opportunity cost of time than me? For example, a bookkeeper at $50 per hour enters transactions into Xero which you review prior to finalization.
Can someone else do this cheaper, better or faster than me? For example, getting an IT intern (free) or IT support person (cheap) to set up new workstations rather than consultants (expensive).
Does this task have a low probability of adding value or revenue to the business? If so, consider dropping it. For example, a repeat prospect who is notorious for getting you to quote on work to compare pricing, without sales ever eventuating.
If this task has low upside or may distract you from focusing on key priorities, consider dropping it. For example, a midweek evening networking function, that in you attending, is unlikely to lead to key business relationships or new business.
Is the task now obsolete? Some tasks become obsolete due to time decay or a change in circumstances. Be vigilant in identifying obsolete business processes or conventions and eliminate them from your business.
Ask yourself, is this task worth me spending 1 hour on at a cost of $200?
What is the opportunity cost of me working on this task over other tasks on my to do list?
Do an audit of your current method of prioritizing tasks you work on by considering opportunity cost.
What important tasks in your Strategic Plan are you not getting to work on that you need to?
Re-draft your hierarchy of needs.
Audit your key people and management team in the same manner.
Request your management team review prioritization and the opportunity cost of time in relation to the employees that report to them.
And finally, don’t forget to audit the opportunity cost of doing tasks in-house versus outsourcing tasks to external providers. Local and offshore physical and online providers often can do a myriad of tasks in a fraction of the time and cost.
Constantly consider the opportunity cost of time with your team.
Ask questions.
Go deeper.
Prioritize.
Reallocate.
Delegate.
Defer.
Drop.
Time is finite.
No matter how successful you are, or how hard you work, there are still only 168 hours in a week.
Time is ticking.
What are you working on?
Give us your best.
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