How you spend your time is more important than how much you’re being paid.
It’s a good feeling to be paid well for the work you do, but the dollar amount on your paycheck doesn’t tell the whole story.
For instance, a Harvard graduate makes an average of $120,000 per year, but they also receive a maximum two weeks of vacation while working 85 hours per week during those remaining 50 weeks. That adds up to 4,250 hours per year and only $28 per hour.
Now let’s look at an assistant manager of a retail store, who earns an average of $70,000 per year. She also gets two weeks of vacation but her average workweek is 50 hours, which makes it 2,500 hours per year. And lo and behold, the assistant manager also earns $28 per hour.
So what do you value more – the number after the dollar sign on your paycheck or the time you lose by working rather than doing the things that bring you joy?
Time should be given a higher value in your life, since we have precious little of it. In fact, you should adhere to the fifth secret of happiness and overvalue your time.
This means being aware of how you are spending your time and reconsidering how much your time is worth when it’s not being spent doing things that give you joy, meaning and purpose.
If you have trouble managing your time, try setting up a structure. Divide your week into three separate categories – “Sleeping,” “Work” and “Things I Love Doing.”
When you evenly divide the 168 hours of a week into these categories, you’ll get 56 hours for all three, which should leave you well-rested and feeling the benefits of a healthy work-life balance.
This is not what those Harvard graduates are feeling. With their 85-hour workweeks, it’s a struggle to find the time to sleep and do anything other than work.
