The Financial Argument For Jaywalking

I jaywalk as often as I can safely do so. Not because I’m late or impatient, but because small things become big things. In other words, jaywalking creates leverage. Want more money? How about a few more vacation days every year? These are big things. But you can get them with small changes. What if you didn’t need a promotion to earn more, or a signature from your boss to take an extra vacation? What if all you had to do was jaywalk?

Deceptively small daily changes can change everything. This is important. It is high impact. And it is easy. Adjust small patterns to free up 1-4 minutes per day. A huge shift in your life is within reach… Right now.

This leverage hack illustrates the potential of small changes: Go to bed at the same time, but wake up 4 minutes earlier every day. If you sleep 8 hours per night, 4 minutes is 0.83% of your sleep. You will barely notice it the 1st day. By the 2nd day it should be no big deal.

4 minutes per day = 24.3 hours per year. If you work 8 hours per day, that’s equivalent to 3 extra vacation days. No signature from your boss required.

Time is non-renewable. We never know for sure how much of it we have left. These qualities make it our most critical resource. More time = more control. But how do you create more time?

You could make big changes. Big changes are a big deal. They usually involve huge amounts of discipline and factors outside your direct control. Or you can make small changes. Small changes are 100% within your control. They involve tiny amounts of time you will never miss. Don’t underestimate their power. These small changes compound and offer huge leverage.

As is so often the case, we must use assumptions to evaluate our options. As a financial advisor, I believe the right assumptions are the foundation for realistic expectations, evaluating risk, and determining the best course of action. Once determined, they must be continually reassessed to confirm they remain accurate. Let’s examine each one to decide whether we should honor that red hand on the sign across the street.

• Times per week jaywalking can safely be done: 15. I normally drive when in the city, and don’t do a ton of walking in areas with traffic lights. But a single short walk in downtown Seattle easily offers 5-10 opportunities to jaywalk.
• Number of weeks per year the “jaywalking per week” number applies: 48. I am usually out of downtown for around 4 work weeks per year. During these weeks I’m not in locations with lots of crosswalks.
• Average wait time for crosswalk: 30 seconds. When I can’t jaywalk safely, I count how many seconds it takes the light to change. Sometimes the wait is a minute or more. Other times it is only a few seconds. Different lights have different durations, but this is a consistent average.

Total time saved per year = 6 hours: (30 seconds) x (15 times per week) x (48 weeks per year)

What should you do with this extra time? One option is to trade it for money. Money is a measurement that everyone can understand. Therefore, it is the yardstick with which we will measure jaywalking’s compound, long term value.

• Value of your time: $50/hour. What rate per hour do you receive for working? If you are not working, what could you earn if you did? Make sure to add in all types of compensation (bonus, stock, etc.) to get a total annual compensation number. Then divide that by hours worked per year. If you get an overtime rate for extra hours worked, use that figure. We will use $50 / hour for our example.

• Cost of a traffic ticket: $47.
• Number of tickets received per year: 0.2. In nearly 30 years of constant jaywalking I have never received a ticket. But, in the interest of using assumptions that are both realistic and cautious, let’s assume one ticket every 5 years.

Annual value of jaywalking = $290.60: (6 hours) x ($50 per hour) – ($9.40 estimated ticket cost)

Lifetime value of jaywalking = $63,000: ($290.60 invested per year) x (40 years) x (7% annual investment growth)

I’m not recommending a maniacal focus on optimizing your life so you can load up on more work. A quantitative analysis using money illustrates the scale of leverage available from small changes. You could also trade this extra time for something qualitative. Use your leverage to improve any important genre of life (health, knowledge, humor, excitement, relationships, etc).

How do I use the time freed up by applying this concept? Margin. Margin is scheduled time that has no predetermined purpose. A shock absorber to ensure I don’t over commit. It is sanity in calendar form. Depending on the week I might use margin for work, spend more with my wife or kids, go for a long run, or have lunch with friends. Margin ensures I can honor my commitments and still have fun improvising life. Currently, 7.5% of my waking hours (9 hours per week) are margin.

For a closer look at margin, check out this post on the Ideal Week.

A few other personal applications of this concept:

• Use pouches to organize gym bag so I never have to dig around for things. (Est. daily time saved = 30 seconds) 
• Optimize driving routes for traffic light & traffic flow patterns. (Est. daily time saved = 3 minutes)
• The speed and quality of my decision making are poor in the first 30-60 minutes after waking. I design my mornings to be decision free. All choices about clothes and food are made the evening before. (Est. daily time saved = 2 minutes)
• These 3 examples save me an estimated total of 33 hours per year.

A couple final thoughts on adaptation and execution:

• Don’t be an idiot. If saving time means being dangerous, don’t do it. This certainly applies to jaywalking, but could apply to other areas as well. Trading safety for time is a fool’s bargain. Sacrificing health is a downside that no upside can compensate you for.
• Balance is key. Continue shifting your mindset, making efficiency gains until you notice a tiny bit of stress popping up. Then take a step back. Stress is an inevitable side effect of efficiency obsession. Be mindful and eliminate it before it becomes a pattern.
• You can find the best opportunities to apply this strategy at the intersection of high frequency and high time consumption. Saving 1.5 minutes per day may be easier than trying to save 10 minutes once per week.
• More time does not provide much leverage if the quality of your time is poor. Another post will address how to amplify the value of your time.
• Remember: 80 seconds per day = 8 hours per year (aka 1 extra day of vacation!)