maxopedia

How did it ever come to pass that people live their lives according to such rigid routines? This stuff is ridiculously boring! I enjoy consistency and all that, but sometimes it gets to be a little much.

Step 1. Wake Up
Step 2. Groom
Step 3. Commute
Step 4. Work
Step 5. Lunch
Step 6. Work
Step 7. Commute
Step 8. Complain About Routine
Step 9. Sleep

Is this the sum total of my life? Am I doomed to this pattern forever? Oh wait, I could have a kid, and it'd be something like this:

Step 1. Wake Up
Step 2. Groom
Step 3. Commute
Step 4. Work
Step 5. Lunch
Step 6. Work
Step 7. Commute
Step 8. Take Care of Kid
Step 9. Sleep fitfully while imagining a life of leisure
Step 10. Ruminate on my failed dreams

Living inside these routines is making me go crazy! I'm not exactly a wild-and-crazy guy, but I feel like there's a yoke around my neck, and I don't even have the responsibility of a family.

It's the yoke of our society that's around my neck, and I willingly placed it there. However, at this point in my life I have one of the few chances that I will ever have to shrug it off and find my own way. Of course, that's not to say someone with a family to support and all that jazz couldn't do the same, but they have a lot more responsibilities to contend with.

By placing that yoke around my neck (getting a corporate job more or less) I am building the most important pillar of freedom; adequate cash flow. What's surprising to me is that so many people stop right there. They get the job, fall into the routine, and never look to see how they can take what they have and bring themselves closer to the kind of life they really want.

I think it comes down to thinking of yourself as a business, and making sure that you account for your costs correctly. In terms of what I think it costs, here's how my routine breaks down.

Step 1. Wake Up - I'd say it should cost at least $75 to make me wake up at a specific time in the morning.
Step 2. Groom - lets say $10
Step 3. Commute - $20
Step 4. Work - $250 (this is my estimate of what my work costs me, not how much I get paid)
Step 5. Lunch - $20
Step 6. Work - $300
Step 7. Commute - $20
Step 8. Complain About Routine - $200
Step 9. Sleep - $200

Just these numbers that I pulled out of my ass indicates that my day costs me $1095. It costs me $105 before I even get to work in the morning. Possibly the most costly part of the routine is the $200 I waste every evening in opportunity costs. Sleep is unavoidable, for better or worse.

On the other hand, my pay is roughly $26 an hour, and I get paid for 40 hours a week; I make a bit over a grand a week. So my week, costs me almost four thousand dollars in lost opportunities and time expenses.

In order for me to meet the arbitrary cash value I have placed on one of my days, I'd have to earn $136.88 an hour. Lets see what a routine that I would appreciate might look like in terms of arbitrary cash value.

Step 1. Wake Up - $0 (unspecified wake up time)
Step 2. Groom - lets say $10 (still costs $$ for soap)
Step 3. Commute - $20
Step 4. Work - $100
Step 5. Lunch - $20
Step 6. Work - $100
Step 7. Commute - $20
Step 8. Talk about how much I enjoy my routine - $0
Step 9. Sleep - $200

The work costs me less, since I enjoy it more. This ideal routine would cost me $450 a day or $2250 per week. This would mean I would have to earn $56.25 per hour to meet my costs. That seems far more sustainable.

Of course, all these numbers are merely arbitrary justifications, but without them, how would I know the degree to which I value one of my days? Obviously, HP isn't going to bump my salary to $275,000 a year, but who can say with one-hundred percent certainty that I'm not losing out on $225,000 worth of opportunity costs every year by working this job?