Your Time Is Worth Far More Than You Know

A job is one of the oldest concepts we have known. It is the process of exchanging your time for a certain amount of money or other form of payment. Whether you work a few hours a week or many hours a week, your pay is directly reflective of the time commitment. Even if you are salary, you are time is still being bought at a certain rate (unfortunately this rate changes). The question then becomes how much are you worth? Will someone pay you more for your time?

Your Current Job

Take a look at your current job. How much money are you currently making? Are you hourly or salary? If you are hourly, you already know how much your rate is. If you are salary, it is an easy calculation. You can take your annual salary, divide it by 26, then divide it by the average hours you work over a two week period (one paycheck). For example, if you make $50k a year you are making roughly $1,923 a paycheck gross. If you are working a standard 40 hour work week, you are making approximately $24/hour. Unfortunately, if you are like so many who end up working more than this when you are salary and work say 60 hours a week, your rate is $16/hour. By comparison, the latter is definitely more depressing.

The Rate Is A Powerful Driver

Understanding your rate is very powerful in your career. Once your understand how much your time is actually worth, you can begin to make an educated decision on what you want to do next. If your rate is lower than what you could be making elsewhere, you should possibly consider making a change. Another option you can consider is asking for a raise with all of the extra time you are putting in for your job. The opposite to this would be to negotiate the ability to work fewer hours. Either way, if you are unhappy in value being placed on your time, you should consider making some type of a change.

The Hard Reality

One of the hardest realities we all will have to face at one time or another is the fact that someone else can do your exact job and make a lot more than you. This became especially prevalent to me recently. I found out my employer had consultants which used to come in on a regular basis to perform a task I now complete. The rate in which they were being paid was nearly double what I make. Now, I perform the same task for far less and work more hours to complete it. It sucks, and it is hard to think about. However, this just means there are places out there which will pay higher for the job I complete, I simple need to find it. The good news for you is similar. You can always find a place which will pay you more for the service you complete than where you are currently at. Do not settle when there might be something else better for you out there!