Track your time. For those who work a drone job in the nine-to-five world our hours are clocked, calculated and compensated. We know if we read that pay stub at the end of the pay period we will see tangible evidence of the energy expelled during that time. Time, our time, has a value, based upon an agreed standard between employee and employer. Is time, not tracked, worth as much? Is energy expelled and not monetarily rewarded still valuable? That is up to he who expelled the energy. So, are you worth it? In so many ways society tends to take for granted the labors of those who do not punch a clock.
When I was a full-time housewife and stay-at-home mother, I did not track the time it took to make meals, clean house, maintain finances, heal the sick, mend items, grocery shop, chauffer, and attend to the plethora of other tasks required. I wish now that I had. To have tangible evidence of just how much energy used in that time would be very motivating in the times when I feel I am not doing enough. In the grand scheme and purpose of the universe, it might be that was the most important job.
A few years ago, I began working for a small business owner. Kathy ran a thriving online storefront selling books and other items. She taught me the value of time. It was the first job I had ever had that demanded I demonstrate how I valued my energy. Kathy required that I track my hours at home as well as in the office (her home); how far I drove, how much money spent on supplies and how to save time and costs. She taught me that everything has value. As a small business, every penny counted. Kathy explained how an ounce and an inch can make a difference in the cost of shipping items out. She explained how she planned her driving to diminish second trips and unnecessary distance. I am grateful to Kathy for so many reasons but her value placed on time most of all.
Today, I apply the lesson Kathy taught to everything I involve myself in. I have a very basic spreadsheet that I open as soon as I turn my computer on in the morning and it is the last file to close before bed. I do not work ‘normal’ jobs. I do not receive monetary compensation all the time from all of my work, but it has a value. The volunteer work I perform for various groups and organizations is valuable to the events and projects they maintain. The housework I complete has value to my friends and family who live or visit with me. My writing hours may not pay off right now, but with dedication those hours may become the most valuable to me personally. I track the hours I put into dance and classes even outside the classroom or performance venue. All the behind the scenes hours count toward that final product the world has privilege to see. I am on the clock as I type this, because it cost something; time and energy! I will never gain back the time and energy, but somewhere, down the line I hope to gain compensation of some form.
Compensation, a word on that; recompense does not have to be monetary, though it is the intent that in some way the return will support my person and if possible my family and household. Much as an internship does not pay the student for work submitted, but in turn offers training in the field he is trying to enter into professionally, some reimbursement takes the form of information without monetary cost. On the flipside of information trade situation, I offer free rehearsal time for two hours every week in my home studio to my most dedicated students. The students receive a free lesson that is fast-paced and challenging. I receive stunning examples to display the work (students) my classes produce. It is advertising with no monetary cost. Trade is often the most profitable option in the current economy and often more valuable than the not so all mighty dollar. Trade, of goods or services, offers both parties the ability to give directly from their personal value system and for each to think about the value of the trade. Volunteer work offers the chance to leave our mark on events and projects and often free or low cost access to things we might not have otherwise been capable of affording. Energy is a resource we have personal command over and complete control over access.
Lack of compensation should be assessed with equal scrutiny! If you are spending more than you are making the system is not working. Do not devalue your work, doing so devalues the work of others in turn. In the years, I have done work with event planning groups I have discovered that emotion costs can get quite high. In tracking hours on a project I makes notes as to how much stress it caused and how much thanks I received. In cases where stress, drama and dealings with easily bruised egos over shadowed the gratitude I count the project as a loss. While I cannot regain lost energy any more than lost money, I can add value to the lesson if I make a promise to myself not to fall into that situation in the future. It only remains a loss if nothing is learned. Evaluate stress and drama in accordance with all parties involved however. Was it only on the part of the other that trouble occurred? This is part of the lesson. If a larger portion of the issues involved your approach, be assured it will happen again. If ultimately the projects that continue, or are projected, to cost more than the return, it may be time to let those projects go.
Over time, no matter how much energy is expelled in the learning process of gain and loss, at some point balance happens. Balance also does not last. Nothing is stagnant and that is good. I am constantly learning how to balance my time and energy budget; some years are better than others. There are projects I am still waiting for a return on. There are projects that ended in an unexpected deficit that the lesson will be the only recompense. There are more and more projects though, that even through trials and glitches have come out more profitable than anticipated. That is the best part of this process. There is no glass ceiling, unless I make one in my thinking. There is no getting fired only finding a position more suitable. The rewards are not always immediate or clear but no matter the debt left, it will be repaid. Always track your time and energy. This is your best method to view how much work you put out. It helps to make decisions concerning future projects. It helps to decide who to work with on the future projects you do decide to work on. It helps you see your faults in dealing with people and situations. Weeks, months, even years past, I have looked back at timesheets and laughed (or cried) at how naïve my view of a situation was.
This is the point I state my opinion; nine-to-five jobs are overrated and undercompensated. I like knowing that I earned the payment I received. I like learning how to make that compensation ever more profitable by learning through mistakes and adjustments in thinking. “Normal” jobs do not reward forward thinking nor educate based on poor judgment. “Normal” jobs punch the clock at a set pay rate the same for every person in the same rank; whether he stands in a space and breathes the air, or runs his mind and body through the motions feigning a hardworking attitude, or creates new ideas and methods, takes risks and makes choices that save the company time and money. This may be the primary reason most people feel the jobs they are in are soul-sucking moments that they will never get back.
I am not making oodles of money, nor do I live a great big house on the hill, but with effort I know I could and that is the most important point. The time and energy that I put into a project, overtime, will multiply to equal success in however I envision success. As housewife and mother, I envision my success as a happy comfortable, welcoming home; an intelligent, polite and healthy family. As business woman, I envision success as making the next year earn more than it cost. As a dancer, I have well educated, confident students. As a writer, I have words I am proud to share with others. In event planning, I am pleased most with an event that covered its costs and allowed other and myself to experience enjoyment. Money is wonderful, but success is not only measured in dollar signs. I live in a comfortable happy household, the people around me are typically entertained and never bored, I go to sleep every night blissfully exhausted, and eager for the next day’s games. And it is, as so often I say in other subjects as well, all just a game. It is all about the Monopoly Money and when the game is over, all the pieces are returned to the box no matter how much anyone compiled during the course of the game.
The items listed in Kathy’s store serve a value lesson as well; all of the items are cast offs scavenged from estates and secondhand stores. Everything has a value to someone and you should be the most valuable item on your list. Please, check out Kathy’s stores and my stores and classes on writing and bellydance. I am, of course, a fan of fair trade for most items, services and lessons. Please, do not hesitate to make a deal!
www.ioffer.com/stores/thekatsmeowstore
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