There is an old exercise called “How Much Is It Worth to You?” In this activity, you are approached by a multibillionaire. He has more money than you could ever spend in a lifetime. He approaches you and asks to buy one day of your life, just one day — twenty-four hours.

He signs a promise that he will never use the day for anything. He is going to “lock” it away in a vault never to be seen, touched, spoken of, or used again. He only wants to buy one future day. You can even choose the day in the future that you sell to him. The sky is the limit. What would you charge him for one day of your life? What is one day of your life worth?

Common responses range from $10 billion to $10,000 to $100 to nothing. Some people say that they would not sell a day of their life for any price. They give the reason that it may be their last day. (But remember, you can choose the day that you sell.)

Think about this for a moment. How could $10 million or $100 million change your life? What could you do? How could you help others? All you are giving up is twenty-four hours. Think about this for a while. What would you charge the multibillionaire for a day of your life?

Your Answer

Do you have an answer? Did you choose a dollar amount or did you convince yourself that you would never sell a day of your life. What is a day of your life worth to you?

Whether you sold your day for $10 billion or if you did not sell your day because it is priceless to you, ask yourself this: Was today a $10 billion day? Was today priceless for you? Tonight, when you go to bed, did you have a $10 billion day? Did you get all of the gusto, all of the joy, all of the living out of today? Was today priceless? Was today worth a day of your life?

Some people reflect back on today and they would pay someone to take it from them. These are the people who have not yet learned to bask in the small and wonderful gifts that every day brings. These are the people who do not know themselves well enough to make twenty-four hours work for them. These are the people who battle with who they are and what they are worth.

If you had trouble answering the question about how much a day of your life is worth to you, perhaps self-reflection will be of assistance to you. Perhaps this is a journal entry for you. Perhaps this is the time to begin spending quality time with yourself to think through questions such as “What is a day of my life worth?” or “What am I worth?” or “How do I value my worth?”

Being Alone

In your quest for healthy self-esteem through self-promotion, think about the time that you spend alone with yourself. Many people do not like the idea of spending time alone because it forces them to think too much, or they simply do not enjoy their own company. Being alone and spending that time in self-promotion is a way to begin to look at your inner qualities and discover what it is that you enjoy about yourself and your own company. Self-promotion is, in effect, a way to have a relationship with yourself.

Perhaps you are always searching for the other “half” of you to make you a whole person. Self-promotion allows you to move toward acceptance of yourself as a whole person without having to have another half. There are many worse things than being alone. For example, being with someone and feeling alone is worse than being alone by yourself. Being in an abusive relationship is worse than being alone and being in a one-sided relationship is worse than being alone.

It is not encouraged to spend day after day, week after week alone; other people certainly add to the quality of your life, but it can be healthy to take some time for yourself and use your alone time to establish closer ties to you.

Self-promotion is an important step in building healthy self-esteem. It allows you to spend time with yourself without any judgment from you or anyone else. If you have not yet begun to develop a humor file, victory wall, or letter/photo/card box, take time today to begin each of these. They are inexpensive, yet invaluable when it comes to taking care of your own soul. Don't let the old notion that you can't take care of and spend time with you impede your progress in the quest for healthy self-esteem.