Your Money or Your Time

While we all know about value of time , yet many of us are guilty of wasting time at various stages in our life. By the time we realise we have wasted it, its too late.

Being time affluent is a privilege. If you are short on time, too busy with your work, then try consider buying some time. Offload your work, get someone else to do part of it, so that you can get your time, your freedom, some moments of peace. 

People tend to ignore the importance of ‘thinking time’, many people are not able to plan their day well, don’t follow a routine and are always running behind on their schedule. 

As rightly depicted in the image above, in our childhood, we have lot of time and energy, but we lack money. So we spend our time just having fun, we run away from productive, knowledge building activities, as we find them ‘boring’ and instead spend energy to run around and play. 

As we get into the middle age, working life, we are earning for ourselves and we have just enough energy to do our daily chores. But in rig-morale of daily life, we pack our day with so much stuff, that we have no time for our selves. We are literally dying all through the week, waiting for the weekend, to catch up on our sleep and some time off. So often I have heard that people come back for a vacation and they are like they need another one, just to relax and ‘do nothing’.

In the old age, having slogged all through working life, we have earned enough money to enjoy a happy retired life, but we did not pay attention to our health and fitness, and we are short on energy to do any laborious work.

The other day, I was talking to someone, and I coined the term” Flatten the Life Curve”. Basically, during our work life, we are constantly looking to grow, grow in terms of responsibilities, grow in terms of salary and the constantly expanding income makes us add more and more luxury and comfort in our life. Result is we need to work harder, fight for a even higher salary, just to keep paying for the bills. And once we reach the pinnacle of our career, in late forties or early fifties, when the income dips; we start making adjustments in the new life. Have a big house, but few people to stay in it. Have a fridge full of food, but few people to eat. Want to go on vacation, but no one to go with, etc. 

Instead, if one takes a step back in middle age and allocates time for oneself, for fitness, for building and nourishing a hobby, gaining knowledge and wisdom, do a side hustle, do social work, etc. All these activities will mean taking a small financial hit, taking up a less aggressive role, slowing down the rise in corporate ladder. But it will help one prepare better for retired life. So when you actually hit old age, you will be fit, healthy, have options on how to spend time and can welcome the retired life, rather than dreading the same.

Being time affluent in the middle age is more important than being money affluent in old age. Especially, to be in control of your time and use it wisely in old age can make a huge difference to your happiness quotient.

And for children, I would recommend that they should read, read a hell lot, enhance their knowledge quotient, ask a ton of questions, explore various professions, do many internships, so that when it comes to making decisions on their career, they will be more clear on what they DON’T want to do, which also is a big deal.

So, if a Robber was to point a gun at you and ask “Your money or your Time” – what would you rather give away?

Explore, Experiment, Enjoy.