Time is money. It’s a concept that most of us are familiar with and is especially true for business owners. If you’re paid by the hour, you have a literal price put on your time, but the same applies if you’re paid according to results. It makes sense that, in the business world, more time and energy are applied to things that can produce more money. 

But what about your everyday life? 

This time is no less valuable just because you aren’t literally getting paid for it. Even time spent on tasks that seem less important, such as relaxing in front of the television, can be time well spent, as long as it’s managed properly.

This is where we come to the point of this post. Can you get more value out of the time allotted to you? 

The Same 24 Hours

It’s also been said that “we all have the same 24 hours”, but this isn’t necessarily true. If you have the funds, you are able to buy back some of the time in your day. This means that you have more opportunities to make money or find valuable uses of your time.

The trick to getting the most out of your 24 hours is to work out how much your time is worth. 

Let’s say that you work for yourself. When you run a business, you’re forced to understand this concept far more completely. The cost of delivering a service or product doesn’t just involve the materials or tools that you use, it also includes the time you put into it and the skill that you’ve honed through training and experience.

Delivering a product or service is the most obvious way that you “spend” time to earn money. A good business owner will quickly determine which projects are worth their time. But running a business is more than just making sales and completing projects. You also need to spend time doing administrative duties, marketing, and building relationships with clients and vendors.

While you don’t directly earn any money with this time, these tasks are still a necessary part of running your business. For example, by taking the time to work on your business plan and taxes, you can save money. You can also spend time looking for more lucrative opportunities. When you don’t have a lot of clients, your time is better spent expanding your business.

You can also spend money to earn more time by hiring employees or reaching out to freelancers to tackle some of your tasks. This is where understanding this time/money relationship is really important. The same applies to investing in new equipment to increase efficiency.

While we’ve looked at how business owners can “buy or sell” their time, the same principles apply in everyday life. When you get a taxi instead of walking or using public transportation to get somewhere, you are spending money to save time. True, you also pay for more comfort and convenience, but you can see how helpful it can be to pay attention to how you spend your 24 hours in a day. 

So, how much is your time worth? Are there other ways to buy back and budget your time?

Planning and Scheduling

Image Credit.

One thing that can do wonders for your time management is a digital planner. By scheduling your time, you can ensure that tasks don’t get forgotten and left by the wayside, and you can also figure out where all your time is going.

The trick to good scheduling is to be realistic with your time. Yes, it would be fantastic if you could work ten hours a day without any breaks, but this isn’t realistic. Humans simply aren’t designed to work at peak efficiency for such a long period of time.

So, schedule breaks into your workday. This does two things. First, it means that you take breaks when you need to. Different people work in different ways, and only you know the best and most efficient way for your brain and body to work, but you will need to take breaks at some point. A lot of people actually find that short breaks taken often are better than a few longer breaks, as it keeps the mind fresh.

It can take a little work to figure out the best way to get the most out of your breaks, but it’s worth experimenting.

The second benefit to scheduling breaks is that you can make sure that you don’t spend too long on a break when it isn’t scheduled. You’re less likely to get distracted while working, as you know when your next break will be. When you are working, you’re more focused.

As well as scheduling breaks and work time, you should be specific when planning your day. Work out what tasks need to be completed, and write them down. As well as specific projects, make time for administrative tasks and all of the other miscellaneous tasks you might end up doing during your typical work week.

Again, some people find that variety helps the day go by quickly. Rather than dedicating a whole day to one certain task, you might prefer to break it up into smaller chunks. Other people prefer to focus each day and get into the “zone”. 

Time management isn’t a case of finding the best working method for everyone. It’s about getting to know yourself. 

Again, these principles can be applied to your personal life. You can schedule your chores, rest and relaxation time, workout time, and even your sleep.

Where Your Time Is Going

So, how can you work out how you’re spending your time? Well, time tracking reporting is an effective way for business owners to get an accurate count of how much time they, and employees, are spending on the job.

How can this help?

Remember, time is money. 

Time tracking prevents wage theft, but it also helps you to prioritize certain tasks that have a better time/money economy. 

We’ve explored a couple of common sayings, so here’s a third one: “Knowledge is power”. In this case, knowledge refers to data. Time tracking provides valuable data that can help you work out expenses, salaries, and exactly what specific projects entail.

After all, you can’t manage your time if you don’t know where it’s going.