Add up the full time cost

Make sure you know what you’re getting in to

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to add up the full time cost.
We can forget all the small bits of time attached

(00:23):
to any project or activity, but seeing the true cost
can help us make better choices. Today's tip, like yesterday's,
comes from Ashley Willen's new book Time Smart. In this book,
she argues that people tend to undervalue their time compared
with money, but that we're often happier making time centric decisions.

(00:47):
One way that people undervalue their time is by not
considering all the time associated with any project or decision.
When people first look into speaking professionally, for instance, many
get quite excited by the pay rates associated with the job,
but of course, earning thousands of dollars for a one
hour speech doesn't actually translate into a rate of earning

(01:09):
thousands of dollars per hour. You often have to travel
to the speech. There's time getting to the airport and
time spent on the plane. Sometimes you have to stay overnight.
There's time spent packing and unpacking afterwards. There's the fact
that traveling takes a lot of energy. All of This
can be streamlined, of course, but it does lower the

(01:29):
per hour take. Likewise, Willen's notes that if someone wants
to have a meal with you to network, you're saying yes.
Is not just the sixty minutes of the meal, there's
also the time you'll spend getting too and from the
restaurant and finding parking. If you budget two hours total,
she says, you should ask yourself what am I not
doing with that time that I could be doing? And

(01:52):
what is the effect on the time around that meal?
Did you have to rush to complete tasks? Did it
increase you see your stress trying to make the appointment?
And did it affect your work afterward? These are all
good questions. Now, I am not saying that you shouldn't
go to networking lunches or dinners. You should. You just

(02:14):
want to be sure that you understand the full time cost. Now.
I do think that a certain category of us have
an easier time making these calculations. In my case, I
am a working mom of five young kids. My husband
also works full time, and pre COVID, he traveled a
lot for work. So for many of my activities, I've

(02:35):
had to figure out the full time cost because I've
had to calculate the child care requirement. I know that
a sixty minute dinner isn't just a sixty minute dinner
because I'm booking the babysitter to show up forty minutes
beforehand and to stay forty minutes after. I've probably gone
to fewer things than I should have, precisely because I

(02:56):
am seeing the full time cost. But if you don't
have the babysitter meter, taking these things can be a
little harder to see, and that can affect decisions. So
when you're considering saying yes to something, be sure to
understand what it entails. That project isn't just two hours.

(03:19):
You'll spend at least another two hours negotiating the details
and setting up pre calls with the people involved. That
virtual coffee isn't just the twenty minutes. If you'll stop
deep work ten minutes before and cycle through headlines for
ten minutes afterwards, add up the full time cost, and
then ask what else you could do with that time.

(03:42):
Maybe nothing much, but maybe something important and that is
worth knowing. In the meantime, This is Laura, Thanks for listening,
and here's to making the most of our time. M

(04:02):
Hey everybody. I'd love to hear from you. You can
send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four, then Breakfast
p o D. You can also shoot me an email
at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media dot com

(04:25):
that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

(04:46):
favorite shows.