I was at the train station. It was late at night, it was cold, and I was tired. I was wondering if the 25-minute walk home is worth it, or if I should call a taxi instead. It turned out a friend was walking the same way as me, so we decided to walk, but it got me thinking:
Let’s say you have a 15-minute uncomfortable walk home, or you can take a taxi for 5 pounds. If you choose to take the taxi, that would put your time’s worth at 20 pounds per hour (or more). Because you’d rather pay that money than be uncomfortable for 15 minutes.
So if you have a job where you earn only 15 pounds an hour, wouldn’t it make more sense to walk?
Except this reasoning is false. It only works if you hate your job.
It works on the assumption that first you trade your happiness for money, and then later trade money for happiness.
But if you love your job… even if you earned 8 pounds an hour, it might be worth it to later give up 20 pounds per hour to avoid discomfort. It’s not like you had to go through pain and misery to earn that money.
In other words – if you love your job, your time is far more valuable than however much you’re getting paid.
So don’t let anyone judge your worth by money. Only you can judge how well you’re doing – based on the fun and happiness you experience.
Hey, right after I post this, I could:
a) do something that earns money
b) spend money on something
c) lie comfortably in my bed, reading a library book
Guess which one’s the most valuable use of my time 
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Although I like your approach of time != money, I still prefer to apply this “how many hours do I have to work” calculation before spending money. I happen to really like my job, but for financial reasons I can’t pay for everything so out of pure practicality I have to limit myself and know that I’m spending enough. Since I change currencies so often I value everything in terms of time I have to work rather than the actual monetary value. I like that work, but I still use it as a base of measurement – making sure I’m not beyond my limits is a good check to cut back a bit when I need to
With that in mind I’m getting a taxi to the party now – could get the bus, but I’ll save myself 30 minutes (I’m buzzed to go out partying, don’t want to lose that buzz on a bus) and spend €6 more. I love living in countries where getting a taxi doesn’t break the bank and rarely comes into financial decisions
You’ll find this funny: as I was in the taxi, I took out my iPhone, opened up the PDF reader application I use to read books to pass time on such trips or when waiting, opened up my copy of “How to be Rich and Happy” and continued reading where I left off at Chapter 18 “Maximize your rich and happy return” with lots of talk of RHR equations and looking at the per minute happiness value of spending money. If your article was influenced by that, it’s a fun coincidence that I read the relevant chapter in the very taxi I had commented about
@Benny:
Ya, it’s quite possible I was subconsciously influenced by that
. And “hours worked” is definitely a cool way to measure money.
I was just making the point that an hour of discomfort is different from an hour spent working. The latter is usually quite fun