Results
| Activity | Time | Direct cost | Opportunity cost | Total cost | Share |
|---|
Example data
Sample inputs to show typical usage. You can recreate these values in the form.
| Activity | Hours | Minutes | Focus | Include |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep work | 10 | 0 | 1.30 | Yes |
| Meetings | 6 | 30 | 1.05 | Yes |
| Email/admin | 4 | 0 | 0.85 | Yes |
| Social scrolling | 3 | 0 | 0.80 | No |
Formula used
For each activity:
- timeHours = hours + (minutes ÷ 60)
- directCost = timeHours × hourlyValue × focus × (1 + overhead% ÷ 100)
- opportunityCost depends on the selected mode and the alternative hourly value.
- totalCost = directCost + opportunityCost
Focus scales value up or down. Overhead adds a realistic buffer for switching, setup, and recovery.
How to use
- Enter your hourly value and optional alternative value.
- Set overhead and default focus for typical work.
- Add activities with estimated hours and minutes.
- Adjust focus per activity if needed.
- Press Submit to see results above the form.
- Download CSV or PDF for reporting and review.
Notes for better estimates
- Use the same period for “available hours” and activity time.
- If you undercount tiny tasks, overhead will help capture them.
- Opportunity cost is most useful when you have a clear alternative.
Value per hour
Start by setting an hourly value that matches your real decision context: wage, billable rate, or a personal value proxy. If you earn 4,000 per week for 40 hours, your base value is 100 per hour. Converting minutes matters: 15 minutes is 0.25 hours, so at 100 per hour the baseline cost is 25 before any adjustments.
Overhead and friction
Overhead captures switching, setup, and recovery that calendars ignore. A 10% overhead factor turns a 2.0 hour block into 2.2 hours of economic time. If the same block is valued at 60 per hour, direct cost rises from 120 to 132. This is useful for meetings, errands, and fragmented work where hidden time is consistently undercounted.
Focus multiplier logic
Focus scales the quality and intensity of time. A 1.30 multiplier can represent deep work that produces more output per hour, while 0.85 can represent distracted admin. For a 3 hour task at 50 per hour with 10% overhead, direct cost is 3 × 50 × 1.30 × 1.10 = 214.5. The same task at 0.85 focus becomes 140.25.
Opportunity cost framing
Opportunity cost measures what you give up by allocating time away from a higher value alternative. If your base value is 40 per hour and an alternative is 70 per hour, the gap is 30. A 6 hour activity then carries 180 of opportunity cost. When the alternative is lower, the conditional mode sets opportunity cost to zero to avoid double counting.
Decision-ready reporting
After submission, review the breakdown table sorted by total economic cost. High share items are your fastest levers: cutting a 20% share activity reduces the period cost more than trimming several small tasks. Use daily equivalent to translate weekly or monthly plans into a single comparable number, and export CSV or PDF to track changes across cycles. For validation, compare total allocated time to available hours; a 32 hour allocation in a 40 hour week is 80%, signaling limited slack and risk of overload.
FAQs
1. What hourly value should I use?
Use a number that matches the decision. For salaried work, divide pay for the period by available hours. For freelancers, use your blended billable rate. For personal planning, choose a value that reflects wellbeing and goals.
2. Why include overhead?
Overhead accounts for setup, context switching, breaks, and recovery time that still consumes capacity. Adding 5–25% makes estimates more realistic, especially for fragmented schedules, meetings, and multi‑tool workflows.
3. How should I set the focus multiplier?
Set 1.0 for normal work. Use 1.1–1.5 for deep, high‑leverage tasks, and 0.7–0.9 for distracted or low‑energy work. The multiplier scales direct cost so your plan reflects quality, not just duration.
4. When does opportunity cost matter most?
Use it when time spent on one activity prevents a clearly higher value alternative, such as client work, exam study, or rest. If the alternative hourly value is higher, the tool adds the gap per hour to show tradeoffs.
5. Why does economic cost rise while total time stays the same?
Total time is the sum of included activity durations. Economic cost applies focus and overhead factors to value that same time more accurately. This keeps time accounting clean while still pricing hidden friction and intensity.
6. How do I export results?
After you submit, use Download CSV for spreadsheets and Download PDF for a printable report. Exports include a summary and an activity breakdown ordered by economic cost.