Here is the full transcript of Brian Nelson-Palmer’s talk titled “Reimagining The Actual Value of Your Time” at TEDxWhiting conference.
Brian Nelson-Palmer’s talk, “Reimagining The Actual Value of Your Time,” offers a compelling insight into assessing and valuing personal time beyond work hours. He introduces a practical method to calculate the monetary worth of one’s personal time, encouraging the audience to use this value as a decision-making tool for better life balance and time management.
Through personal anecdotes and examples, Nelson-Palmer illustrates how reevaluating the importance of time can lead to more fulfilling choices and experiences. He emphasizes the need for adjustments in one’s valuation of time based on personal circumstances and financial realities. Ultimately, his talk inspires a shift in perspective, advocating for a life where time is spent on what truly matters, echoing the sentiment that time, indeed, is the currency of life.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Understanding the Value of Time
Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s not worth your time”? I used to hear it and think, “Well, how do you know?” And what exactly is my time worth? In a few minutes, we’re going to actually calculate your specific number for what your personal time outside of work is worth. I teach employees work-life balance, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that people tend to undervalue their personal time. But by having a number as a frame of reference, they find it easier to make better decisions with their time.
So today, it’s your turn. I’m going to introduce the concept, we’ll calculate your number, and I’ll share good ways to use it.
Now, why do I talk about this? On my fourth birthday, I was diagnosed with type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes. I vividly remember holding my mom’s hand, sitting in Dr. Kinsella’s bland 1980s stuffy office, and learning that while diabetics can live a full and mostly normal life, the life expectancy for diabetics is 10 to 20 years less than everyone else. As a kid, I took time for granted. Now as an adult, time is the most precious thing that I have. I put a high value on my time, and I’m passionate about finding ways to maximize the life and the time that each of us has right now, right away. So let’s dive into our concept.
The Value of Your Time
You should know your worth, the value of your time. To better explain this, I want to tell you a story. My dad used to drive all the way to the neighboring town to get gas because it was cheaper. Every Saturday, he’d call out, “I’ll be back, headed to get gas.” On a quick day, that trip took at least 45 minutes.
Now, my sister and I could be a bit of a handful sometimes, so looking back now as an adult, I recognize this might have actually been Dad’s tactic to get a break from us kids. But seeing this behavior every week really cemented the idea in my head to save every penny. I used to look at this situation and just think, “Well, which one’s cheaper?”
One gas station is $3 a gallon. The other one is $2.90. You save 10 cents every time, even if you have to drive for it. These days though, I incorporate our concept, live like you’re worth the value of your time. Here’s how I think about this situation. 20 gallons of gas to fill up my car at a 10 cent savings per gallon is $2. Let’s say I value my personal time at 16 bucks an hour. Now, $16 comes from the calculation we’re going to do for you later, but using the information for the average person in the United States.
So, I’m just going to use this number for now. At 16 bucks an hour, that means that 45-minute trip is worth $12. That savings isn’t worth my time. These days, I’d pay the extra 10 cents per gallon. I’d go to the closer gas station that’s a quick 15-minute trip, and I’d spend the extra 30 minutes with my family.
Now, just to clarify, I love my dad. This isn’t me complaining about him or his love of cheap gas. I’m sharing this story because it shows the difference when you incorporate the value of your time.
Everyday Choices and Your Time
Now, how many of you have a relative like my dad who’s willing to drive out of their way for cheaper gas? Raise your hand. There’s a few folks who have seen this. Very good. Well, before you share this TED Talk with them for a good laugh, which I hope you do, what if I change the topic of the story from gas to toilet paper? Does someone else come to mind? Because the premise of the story is exactly the same. See, situations like this where you seem to be able to trade money for time come up in life daily.
Here are some other examples. You go to the grocery store or get those same groceries delivered. Will you fly or drive on your next long trip? Do you clean the house or pay someone to do it? Do you go the faster way, which requires paying a toll? These are just a few examples. As you start to think about this, you’ll probably notice more of these situations. And when you do, remember our concept from today. Live like you’re worth the value of your time.
I want you to remember our concept applies in other situations too, like if they offer to pay you for your time. Here’s an example that happened just last week. I bought a smoothie. At the bottom of my receipt, it said, “Take this quick survey about your experience and we’ll give you a coupon for a dollar off your next smoothie.” Well, that survey’s worth a dollar to me. If I value my time at $16 an hour and that survey takes me five minutes, that’s $1.33.
Now, I’m not saying you should never take the survey. I do sometimes if I think the feedback that I have to share is important. But in this case, that survey wasn’t worth my time. Also, please remember our concept when they offer you things for free too, right? Free coupons, free gifts, free trial periods, free apps. They’re asking for your time. And it may be worth it to go for it. You also have permission to say no. Live like you’re worth the value of your time.
Life Beyond Numbers
Now, right about now, you’re probably thinking it’s not that simple. Life isn’t numbers and a math problem. Will someone please tell that to the IRS? But you’re right. It’s not that simple. There are so many other factors to consider when you’re making decisions, like is it within your budget? You may only be able to afford one of the two alternatives you have right now. Does it bring you joy?
If any of the examples I’ve talked about so far, like cleaning the house or going to the store, if that brings you joy, go for that joy. Will you learn something? Will it become a fond memory? These are just a few examples. There are so many situations in your life where the best decisions you’re going to make are going to be regardless of the time or the money. And I fully support that. When you’re considering those, remember to also consider our concept from today. Live like you’re worth the value of your time.
Now, I want to tell you the story of the day my life changed forever. And that was the day I did this calculation on social media. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I was laying in the hammock on the back patio and I was mindlessly scrolling through social media. And I came across an article that said the average person spends two and a half hours per day on social media. The article described how you can go in your phone and find out for yourself. So, I did. I found out I spent two hours per day on social media.
Now, my mom’s going to see this so I just want to pause right there just to say, “See, look, I am better than average.” Then, I opened up my calculator. If I value my time at $16 an hour times two hours per day times 365 days per year, that’s $11,680. Whoa! Full stop. I’m not getting almost $12,000 worth of joy or value from social media. I’m getting $12,000 worth of frustration, jealousy, negativity.
You see, thinking about my time spent as money spent on social media was the reframing that I needed to make a permanent change. Right there, laying in that hammock, I activated the restrictions on my phone for all social media apps and websites. And to this day, my phone still alerts me any time I’ve spent more than 15 minutes on social media each day. I have never gone back, and I’ve been happier ever since.
So, my question for you is, if you think about the way you spend your time as money spent instead, would that change the way you spend it? So now, my question for you is, if you think about the way you spend your time as money spent instead, would that change the way you spend it?
Now, I’m about to put a matrix on the screen that’s going to show an estimate of the number of personal time hours you have in a year. To find these numbers, I factored out the time when you’re at work making money and the time when you’re doing things you must do as a human being in society, like sleeping, eating, bathing. That leaves us with an estimate of the number of personal time hours you have.
So, I want you to think back over the last few months. What’s the average number of hours you slept per night? And find that number down the left side of the matrix. Then, what’s the average number of hours you worked per week, including your commute time?
Calculating Your Time’s Value
And find that number across the top. The place where your numbers intersect is your estimate of the number of personal time hours you have in a year. And now there’s some math involved, so I recommend a calculator for this one.
Here’s what I want you to type in. I want you to take your total personal annual income before taxes, total income, and divide by your number from the matrix. This works in any currency too, so anyone anywhere in the world can try this. The result of this is an estimate of what one hour of your personal time is worth.
Now, if this calculation doesn’t align with your current life situation, maybe you don’t currently work or you don’t know what your annual income is, I want you to pick a number for yourself right now to represent what one hour of your personal time is worth.
Maybe it’s relative to the $16 an hour average I shared earlier or proportional to someone in your household’s calculation, but pick a number for yourself. And now that you have a number, reflect with me for a moment. If you know what an hour is worth, how much would you need to save on gas or toilet paper to be worth driving 45 minutes for? How much is the time you spend on social media worth?
See, the personal time number value you have now is a tool that you can use to help determine if something is worth your time. And as you start to use it, some people start to make different choices with their time which affects their spending and their budget. And if that happens to you and it stresses you out financially, I want you to adjust your number so you can afford the decisions you’re making.
Making Adjustments to Your Time Value
Here’s a story to kind of better explain what I mean. I noticed I used to spend four hours on Sundays cleaning the house and doing laundry. I thought to myself, “Man, I wonder if it would be worth it to hire someone to do this for me.” When I first did the math with the matrix that we just did together but for myself, I calculated my personal time is worth $25 an hour. That means that the four hours on Sunday was worth $100 to me. And I found a quote, I got a quote from a cleaning service for $90. That seemed worth it. So I went for it. It was glorious.
They did a better, faster job than I ever did cleaning my own house. And I had my whole Sunday afternoon back. It was amazing. There was a problem, though. See, I had just gone through a career transition and I really needed to rebuild my savings which had been depleted. By hiring that cleaning service, I was stretching myself pretty thin financially. So, I ultimately ended up canceling that service and I focused on saving that money instead. For many people, the first time they run into a situation like this, they’re just going to think, “Well, this doesn’t work for me.”
And they’re going to throw the whole concept out. What I want you to do instead is adjust your number. For me, I tried adjusting mine down to $15 an hour. That means that the four hours on Sundays was worth $60 to me. And while it wasn’t worth it to hire the cleaning service, that did seem like a number that I could have afforded and still made a meaningful contribution to savings like I wanted. For me, that one adjustment worked. But for you, it may mean multiple adjustments or a little bit of trial and error. But keep adjusting until you can afford the decisions you’re making.
Now, in teaching this concept as an instructor, this whole personal time number value thing, I’ve noticed that there’s three things that the most successful people do with it. And that’s the advice I want to share with you now. First, keep your value comfortably high. No matter what your income bracket is, your time is worth something. So never make it zero. Find the number for yourself that’s both high for yourself and comfortable for what you can afford. Second, only use one number for your personal time. Don’t make your life complicated with different numbers for different days of the week or different scenarios.
It’s just one number. Like for me, I adjusted mine to that $15 an hour number, and I used that number in all my decisions with my personal time until my life changed and I recalculated my number.
Third, keep it simple. You may have noticed that there’s some factors that I left out of some of these examples that I shared, like with the gas station and the cheaper gas. I didn’t include the extra gas you would burn to drive to the further gas station or the wear and tear on your car or other factors. When you’re doing this calculation for yourself, I recommend keeping it as simple as you can to be comfortable with the decision you’re making or the choice that you’re making. In many cases, the money spent and the time spent may be the only factors you really need to be comfortable and clear on which path you would choose.
Investing Your Time Wisely
Now it may seem like I’ve spent all of our time together so far talking about what not to spend your time on. So I want to take a moment to share what I hope you do spend your time on. I was reading an article by a woman who worked with patients of all ages in hospice. For six years, she kept track of the thoughts and advice these people shared in their final days. These are the most common things that she heard. Be a better, more loving spouse, parent, or child. Do more for others. Don’t spend so much time working. Life balance is important.
Take better care of yourself and take more risks. Now if your phone said you spent two hours per day on one of these, would that feel different than two hours spent on social media or television or gaming? Also notice none of these require money. It’s time. Think about someone close to you that you’ve lost and you miss very much. If you had one more day to spend with them, how would you spend it? And if the way you’d spend that day is completely, drastically different from a normal day for you these days with the people that are close to you now, why is that? If this is giving you ideas, there might be some real opportunity for you here.
So I hope that you embrace it. Now I do want to circle back to one story that does have a happy ending, and that’s with me and that cleaning service that I couldn’t afford and I had to cancel. One year later, I was in a better spot financially. I had rebuilt my savings and I adjusted my personal time’s number value back up to the $25 an hour. I rehired that cleaning service, and guys, to this day, I still feel like such royalty every time I come home to that clean house smell. I am so blessed. So we talked about the concept. We calculated your number, and I’ve shared good ways to use it.
I hope you see now what I meant earlier with my diabetes when I said that I put a high value on my time. For me, that’s not just a concept. It’s an actual number too. And no matter how diabetes treatment has evolved over the years to help me, it’s never changed the high value that I put on my time. I want to leave you with two thoughts. One, live like you’re worth the value of your time. And two, time is the currency of your life. Spend it wisely. Thank you.