In a typical year, you will have worked between 2,000 – 4,000 hours. Those are hours that pass and that you will never get back. So what did you get for your time? Cash? Praise? Love? If I asked you to take your annual compensation and divide it by those hours, you would have your hourly rate. It is what you sell your most valuable asset, time, for.
Much of our work translates into wasteful, perhaps necessary things:
- Organizing
- Responding to emails
- Chores
- Meetings
- Creating reports
- Phone calls
If you had to show and tell your body of work in a few years, would there be an asset that you can display? Or is someone else’s? The things that are assets are:
- Business systems
- Software
- Content
- Strategic Relationships
They have lasting value, produce cash flow and can be part of a sale. The work you put into producing these assets is not wasted time, assuming it is yours.
So ask yourself when you are in the middle of the grind of your busyness, “Am I working on my assets or filling time?” Make sure your time counts and your time translates into meaningful work. Build assets that last and that are yours.
What assets are you working on?
