The Value Equation: A New Way to Measure the Worth of Progress

A thousand years ago, building a house might have taken twenty years of back-breaking work: felling trees with axes, shaping every beam by hand, raising walls without power tools or machinery. Today, a house can be built in two months—or you can pay someone else to do it while you focus on other things. The difference is staggering. But is faster always better? Has technological progress truly improved our lives, or just changed what we value?

To explore this, we need a new way to measure the quality of our choices. Enter the Value Equation.

The Value Equation: What It Is

The Value Equation is a simple but powerful way to evaluate whether a decision—or a broader technological shift—is actually beneficial to a human life. It looks like this:

Value = (Work Days × Daily Enjoyment) + Future Enjoyment – Opportunity Cost

Each component helps capture something essential:

• Work Days × Daily Enjoyment: The satisfaction or fulfillment you get while doing the thing.
• Future Enjoyment: How much you enjoy the result or outcome over time.
• Opportunity Cost: What you gave up by not doing something else with that time or effort.

This formula doesn’t just measure productivity. It measures lived value — the richness of the human experience involved. It’s a lens that refocuses our obsession with output and efficiency toward something more meaningful: the holistic value of our time and energy.

Ancient vs. Modern Life: The House Example

Let’s apply the equation to the original example:

Ancient Builder:

• Work Days: 7,000 days (20 years)
• Daily Enjoyment: moderate to high (pride, craftsmanship, purpose)
• Future Enjoyment: deep, lifelong pride in a handmade home
• Opportunity Cost: few other options in that era; maybe low

Modern Consumer:

• Work Days: 0–60 days (project management, design choices)
• Daily Enjoyment: low to neutral (depends on involvement)
• Future Enjoyment: high (nice home, fast comfort)
• Opportunity Cost: high or low, depending on what you do with the saved time

We often assume the modern approach is objectively better because it’s faster and more convenient. But when you consider the personal journey of the builder—the memories formed, the skills honed, the sense of mastery and identity—it becomes clear that progress can come with hidden costs.

The Philosophy of Progress

This leads to a deeper question: What is progress for?

Technology tends to optimize for efficiency and output. That’s not inherently wrong—in fact, in many cases it’s tremendously helpful. But there’s a subtle danger when the pursuit of efficiency becomes an unquestioned default. If we let machines do all our creating, all our building, even all our thinking—are we better off, or just more idle?

Modern life is increasingly filled with shortcuts. We automate tasks, delegate labor, and outsource time-consuming efforts. This is often seen as a mark of success. But what are we doing with the time we save? Are we using it to deepen relationships, pursue meaningful work, or grow personally? Or are we simply consuming more content, doing more shallow tasks, and losing touch with the parts of life that bring deep satisfaction?

Progress is not inherently good. It’s only good if it increases the total lived value in our lives. The Value Equation helps us examine that. It invites us to go beyond the shallow metric of time saved and ask: What is the quality of the time I’m living?

Case Studies: Applying the Equation

Cooking vs. Food Delivery

Cooking involves effort, but for many it’s meditative, creative, and healthful. The enjoyment might be moderate to high depending on personality.

Food delivery is fast and convenient, but can lead to disconnection from food culture, poorer health, and less skill development.

If you love cooking, the equation favors doing it yourself. If not, the value might depend on how wisely you use the saved time.

Writing a Novel vs. Using AI Tools

Writing a novel from scratch is a long, often grueling journey—but one rich in self-expression and personal growth.

Using AI to draft large sections may get you to the finish line faster, but may dilute the sense of authorship and identity.

If the journey matters as much as the destination, AI assistance might reduce the overall value, even if it increases efficiency.

Traveling by Foot vs. Flying

Walking long distances creates immersion, mindfulness, and reflection.

Flying is fast and efficient, allowing you to access more places but potentially less depth.

Again, the value depends on what you do with the speed: do you use it to experience more, or just to rush on to the next thing?

A Tool for Personal Decision-Making

The Value Equation isn’t just theoretical. You can use it to shape your life. It asks you to take inventory of your decisions—not just in terms of time or money, but in emotional and experiential value.

Before outsourcing, automating, or optimizing, ask:

• Will I enjoy the process of doing this myself?
• Will I enjoy the result more if I do?
• If I don’t do it, will I use the time I save in a valuable way?

This applies to big decisions—like career changes or moving across the world—as much as small ones, like whether to spend Saturday building furniture or binge-watching shows. There’s no wrong answer, only conscious ones.

It also invites a more compassionate view of others. Not everyone values the same things, and not everyone finds meaning in the same processes. The equation honors that by allowing for subjectivity—it’s your enjoyment, your opportunity cost, your future reward.

Conclusion

Progress should serve human value—not erase it. The Value Equation reminds us that faster, easier, and cheaper aren’t the only metrics that matter. In a world of endless shortcuts, we need better ways to measure the richness of life itself.

As we move deeper into an age of automation, AI, and ultra-efficiency, we’ll need tools like this to keep us grounded. Because if we’re not thoughtful, we may wake up one day in a life that’s optimized, comfortable—and strangely empty.

So next time you’re faced with a new technology or time-saving trick, don’t just ask, \”Is this efficient?\” Ask, \”Does this add value to my life—or take it away?\”

It’s not about rejecting progress. It’s about reclaiming purpose.