Summary
When we think of valuable resources, we tend to think of commodities like gold and silver, but what about time? In many senses, it is the most precious of all the resources at our disposal – not only can we not make any more of it, we cannot even re-use it. It is here and gone forever.
Too many of us are far too cavalier about the way we use the time at our disposal. We continue to trade away this most precious of resources for dollars and cents, rather than thinking strategically about how to extract more quality out of the time we have available for ourselves.
We spend far too much of our time finding minor savings and bargains rather than considering how we could be carving out major new revenue streams from our spare time and our expertise.
How many of us have willingly stood in line on Black Friday to get a deal on some piece of electronics, thinking nothing of the sand in the hour glass running out permanently?
Read on to learn more on how you can shift your mindset to ensure that you are making the most of your time on the clock.
Transcript
How much are you worth?
When you hear that question, you might immediately think of your annual salary. Or you might take a broader view of it, considering any property or investment holdings and assessing your cumulative net wealth.
Why not in minutes, hours, and years?
The old adage is true – you can always make more money if you lose it, but you can never regain lost time. It is a truly irreplaceable asset in that regard. So how do you value yourself and your time.
Time is our most precious of commodities – and yet many of us waste it without a thought each and every day.
If you only had two weeks to live, how would you want to spend it?
I have been fortunate enough – and accomplished enough – to have spent over five years living in Mexico, with a beautiful view of the Caribbean. Living here has afforded me a special view into how the local people live their lives differently. There is a lot of discussion about the lessons we can learn from how local people live their lives more simply in many parts of the world. They are not as caught up in the day-to-day grind of the rat race and they draw more appreciation from simple pleasures. But I must point out that there are some differences that I could simply never become accustomed to. One of the biggest involves many of the Mexican people’s attitudes toward time. I am always struck by how the locals here will line up for hours to wait for a service or an event without giving the custom a second thought. They will wait for the better portion of their day for just a simple transaction at the bank or to settle an electric or telephone bill. I never hear a single one of them complain.
This is largely because of the low wages many of them earn. They are paid so little that they don’t perceive the value of their time. It is obviously plain that they can’t hope to earn as much with that hour that they spend in line as a lawyer or doctor in the United States or even in Mexico could. But they are still operating under false assumptions by believing there is not a better use of their time they could be making – a path toward earning better wages or even beginning their own entrepreneurial venture. That said, I find many of the Mexicans very entrepreneurial and self-reliant in nature
The same is true for twenty-year olds at home, who may feel immortal and thus not worry about fritting away so many of their hours without a second thought.
Look at the way you spend your own precious time. Are you one of the masses who line up for hours every Thanksgiving at ungodly hours just to capitalize on seizing a Black Friday deal to knock off fifty or one hundred dollars on a purchase? (More often than not, a purchase of something like a television or video game system that is only detracting more time from your days rather than giving you more wealth or quality time with loved ones.) What else could you be doing with all of that time to help yourself get ahead?
I know of an amazing barbecue stand in Texas, where patrons are known to line up for hours for a bite. They obviously value great barbecue over all of the other options for how they could be spending their day. (To be fair, it is some pretty good barbecue) I know of one young man, a budding entrepreneur, who stands in the line outside as well – except that he isn’t doing it for himself. He arrives at five in the morning and is the first in line every day. He takes orders from others and earns as high as a $100 premium for picking up orders for his customers. He is there every day that he isn’t in class. He has even began to hire his friends to pick up shifts as well when he can’t make it.
And that is where his drive to succeed and make the best of his time will truly kick into high gear. So far, he has mostly been trading his time for money. It isn’t such a bad idea when he is young and starting out – and therefore not commanding very high rates for the use of his time. But as he gains experience and perspective, he will likely learn the lesson that countless successful individuals have learned before him along the way – time is a commodity to be leveraged. Hiring others and delegating is what will enable him to gain the highest return on his investment, even if it takes some upfront expenses on his part, such as paying wages to others. Many short-term thinkers never progress to this stage – they never allow themselves to take the mental leap to begin trading their money for their time.
There are a number of strategies you can employ to ensure that you are maximizing your time and extracting the greatest value from what is your most important – and your continuously depleting – resource.
Know Your Priorities
Maintaining a hold of control over your schedule is much easier if you know what comes first on your list of goals and objectives. Refusing to ruthlessly rank everything that is on your to-do list is setting yourself up to fail while you flail around trying to meet an array of arbitrary deadlines. You will be well served to focus on three strategic goals or priorities at all times – say, building up a network of contacts for your business, maintaining positive cash flow, and making time for your family. When confronted with something on your plate, ask yourself how it aligns with one of these key goals. If it doesn’t, you know it can be one of the first to go – or to be delegated to someone else.
Find Ways To Integrate Your Goals
Don’t wear yourself out multitasking, but keep an eye out for ways to integrate your activities to allow you to achieve two goals for the price of one. An easy example is integrating education and learning into your exercise regimen by listening to useful podcasts or reading business news on a stationary bike. You should always make time to preserve your health and fitness – finding ways to include other goals at the same time will make you feel that much more productive about the time invested.
Do The Math
It may be easier to become comfortable with the idea of using your time as a resource if you calculate the value of it through concrete numbers. Take a look at the number of hours you spend each week on what I call “defensive” actions – that is to say, investing time and effort on saving money or finding bargains. Activities that fall into this category could include things like cutting our coupons, driving great distances to find cheaper gasoline to fill up your car with, or searching retail mall outlets for deals on shoes. Now calculate how much revenue and earnings you could be bringing in for yourself if you spent that same faction of time on freelance work or growing your side business or investing in your professional development. While it surely makes sense to be a frugal and smart shopper, I am willing to bet that in most cases you will be better served by spending more of your time on maximizing your own earning potential rather than obsessing over saving cents on the dollar.
What have you learned in your experience? How can you go about making the best use of your own limited time? Everyone has the same amount of time each. When you learn to maximize your efficient use of your time, you can begin to turn it into a fortune. It is in your power!
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