What’s it Worth?

Look Out for our next Masterclass – August 12th 9:40 am

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What’s it Worth? – and What’s it NOT Worth?

 Dan Ariely in his book ‘Predictably Irrational’ makes some brilliant points, in particular the difference between ‘market value’ and ‘social value’. It’s a longish book, 329 pages, but if you’re interested, I recommend you give it a read.

When we look at the ‘value’ of what we do alongside who we are, we discover a few interesting parameters. Looking at ‘value’ is fascinating – what do we mean by it?

What is the ‘value’ of the ‘work’ we do, whether it’s for an employer or for clients as a business owner or ‘sole trader’, or even the things we do for ourselves like bringing up children or going on holiday, playing a sport, doing voluntary work or whatever?

Turning it around how do we match this with what we get in return?

It’s a ‘balancing act’ and we’re doing it throughout our lives, but there’s a factor we often forget. What is the ‘cost’ or even value of NOT doing (or buying) something?

Considering this puts a whole different perspective on things.

How do we ‘deal’ with all this?

Trouble is, we get ‘hung up’ about ‘money’ – we tend to measure everything in terms of money – we equate value with money when money is only one of the means we use to get an idea of the value of something.

As an example, a family holiday may incur, let’s say, £10,000 in expenses – but is that the ‘value’ we derive from the experience? Similarly, we may pay £250,000 for a new home – but is that the ‘value’?

Turn it around, What’s the value of not doing something? Sure, money comes into it – part of the value may be you’re able to use the money for something else.

What’s the value of not having that extra drink – not having a hangover in the morning? Not having the extra large portion of food, not moving house, not buying a new car?

There’s always a dilemma – “If I do that, I’ll be unable to do this” and vice versa.

The thing is we’re constantly put under pressure to do stuff, to buy stuff and even to embrace ideas one way or another. We have options, most of which we invent for ourselves although some are ‘thrust upon us’ by others.

We have to decide, which literally means we have to ‘cut off’ or discard one option in favour of the other.

We don’t find this easy – only a few of us have been brought up to make decisions properly – but  then it’s still not easy because we feel we’re not ‘allowed’ to ‘change our minds’ as it would be seen as a sign of weakness or failure – the last thing we want in life is to be ‘accused’ of ‘making the wrong decision’ – (even by ourselves!)

Decision making should be based on an evaluation of the VALUE of the alternatives – to do or not to do, to have or not to have. “To be, or not to be – that is the question”. Indeed it is, and William nailed it.

This applies to everything. You and I have to decide between options, between values and between the outcome of the choices made, always in relation to who we are and who we want to be.

While going through the decision process, there is often another factor to consider – “what value have I lost by not doing this earlier?” This question brings into focus the real value of what you are considering doing or not doing.