What is your time worth?
I've worked numerous crappy jobs and I've spent hours waiting on people who are running late. I've heard myself say numerous times, "this isn't worth my time." Well recently I've began to wonder what time really is worth to me. As I am currently unemployed I can say that right now i concider my time priceless, but I would like to know what you people think.
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"By the way I am high, I'm HIGH!!!" - Dave Chappelle
Our time on earth is priceless. At least i think so. But time is money and you need money to live in this society. I'm working a job I'm not exactly thrilled with (Kmart, registers). I'm sometimes late, mainly because I just don't care that much. So when I get told off I also don't really care, but I pretend to so I don't get fired. 😊 If I were to get fired I probably wouldn't mind, until I started getting low on cash of course. I dunno, I suppose in this world I should care about work and money a lot more than I do. I guess I'm just not cut out for a society in which a person is defined by their title and income.
Time only has worth if it used to be productive !
If you have committed yourself to lay aside a large portion of your time to contribute to the betterment of others then you can - without guilt - use a portion of the time that is left either doing nothing, ( resting ), or squandering it on recreation.
If you are not working and contributing then your time on this earth is being wasted !
I think that money really isn't worth my time. I work enough to meet my basic needs, and some recreation, but I don't feel that I need to spend time and money in college to get a degree in something "productive" to make my time worth more. I think that there is great value in time spent recreationally, and time spent expanding myself in ways that do not benifit me financially. I am going to school right now to study history and native american studies. I know that its going to cost me $40K to get my degree and that I'll be making quite a bit less than some of my friends who are studying business and chemistry, but i think that I am improving myself much more than i would be if i were doing something "more worthwhile." That is why i am begining to think that it would be kind of difficult for someone to buy my time right now, I think that my time is beginging to be worth more to me personally than it is if i get paid to spend my time doing work for some one else. I know it is impossible for me right now to be economically independent enough to say that i won't work for money, but there is a definate cut-off. I wont work jobs that don't pay especially well, not that they are below my qualifications, but rather i'd rather have that time to myself. I dunno....
Originally posted by WhiteEagle
I can have a good time doing things that I wouldn't say are productive at all. I'd still consider it time well spent.(Off to work in half and hour. 🙁 )
WhiteEagle....
I see time for recreation, ( "having a good time" ), as time that is in the savings pot !
I mean by this that if you are enjoying yourself and "wasting" time in the process...( even although you may see this as time well-spent ), you must take this time from the amount available to be used to create and produce. If you have created enough stuff then you have every right to use-up stuff during your recreation periods.
One time-period ADDS to the savings pot and the other time-period SUBTRACTS from it.
I feel that if you do not PUT INTO the pot you have no right to TAKE OUT of it.
That, is time well-spent !
I don't know if I support your time pot idea. I think that it is after all your time, so you can use it as you see fit. I don't ration myself recreation time, mostly because I don't really keep track of how much work I do. I think I may not do what people consider to be 'enough' work. I mean, I do work, I don't just lay around all day. But when I'm not interested in a job I'm hardly going to do more than is required of me. I believe that humans need work, whether it be building a house or filing taxes. Have you ever heard the saying "Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies."? Another Camus quote, but I feel it's appropriate here. Lets just say I think there is a lot of soulless work around these days. I realize that some are needed for society to function, that doesn't mean I support them though.
I have a philosophy....( Well, it is the philosophy forum intit )....
There are three kinds of people in the world:
1). The creators and maintainers.
2). The users but often wasters.
3). The destroyers and spoilers.
I feel that if I can spend a bit of my time at number one I can then spend a bit of my time at number two !
If I spend a large proportion of my time at number three then I am a waste of time AND space.
I also agree with Paxelius that as we go along we make marks and if we cannot look back and admire those marks we are either stuck at number two or worse, at number three !
If I have my life to live over by Erma Bombeck:
"If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'GOOD' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace. I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth. I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed. I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage. I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life. I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment realizing that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle. When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, 'Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.' There would have been more 'I love yous' ... more 'I'm sorrys' .....but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute.....look at it and really see it ... live it ... and never give it back."
In honor of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer.
I choose a life over a successful career and I won' t have the feeling of having wasted anything. If that - materialistically - means to have a little less instead of a bit more than I' m happy with that.