We fritter away the most precious thing we have.

Would you give away the most expensive thing you own for free? No way. Why would you give your hard-earned assets away for nothing? Still, we do this every day of our lives.

For instance, why do we work so hard on things that are not fulfilling? The answer – money. Because we need money to live and for our basic needs. What happens when we have enough and more to cover our basic needs? We want more money. We crave luxury. Bigger is better. More is more. More clothes, cars, houses, socializing, travel… we have our own definition of luxury.

After a point, we become deeply engrossed in the pursuit of money for the sake of it. Occasionally, we wonder: Does money justify a life spent on doing something that does not make us come alive? What we do not realize is that money is only a tool that helps unlock our most precious asset. It needs to be used to eliminate things we don’t value and help free up what is most valuable to us – time.

How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon? – Dr. Seuss

Maybe we find this concept hard to understand or acknowledge because we are caught up in outmoded ways of thinking passed down through the decades. Like a chronic disease, our dated thought processes limit our ability to consider new paths and keep us boxed in. Isn’t it time to scrutinize and question these thought processes. Try turning them the other way round, hold them in a different way, and put them through the quality control test of your instinct. Are they serving you well?

The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. – Stephen R. Covey.

We realize the value of time only when we begin to respect and value ourselves. Otherwise, a lifetime can be spent amassing money while our true selves get buried deeper and deeper under layers of weary acceptance, resigned to existing rather than living. We start yearning for time once we start peeling those layers off and questioning the value of time vs money.  

“Money is something you trade your life energy for. You sell your time for money. It doesn’t matter that Ned over there sells his time for a hundred dollars and you sell yours for twenty dollars an hour. Ned’s money is irrelevant to you. The only real asset you have is your time. The hours of your life.” ― Vicki Robin

Time is life. Time is money. We cannot store or save time. It plows through our lives relentlessly. We can only use and invest time in the Now. Money, on the other hand, comes and goes. It is possible to earn or borrow it. Time is your true wealth. Keeping this in mind, consider what you are selling your time for. What is the real cost of trading your time for money?

Are you attempting to use your money as a tool to free up more of your time? Are you letting go of tasks that are ‘time eaters’ and can be done by anyone? Are you seeking approval from strangers for things that do not serve you well or add nothing to your life quality? If so, what is the true cost you are paying for this ‘approval’? Should your self-identity be tied up with this approval from others or strangers you might never meet outside a specific environment? And how can you get rid of all these unnecessary elements to free up more time?

Start planning to take back your time by asking questions on the opposite end of the spectrum: Who do you need to seek to engage in those tasks that add meaning to your life? Who do you respect enough to seek advice and learn from? What can you do to get there?

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. – Carl Sandburg

Understanding that time is a true and limited asset can open up unexpected and exciting vistas. It seems like stepping into a magnificent new dimension of life and changes the way we think. Life is not spent in mind-numbing days that seem similar to each other. On the contrary, our lives become more productive. We learn to conserve our energy, accept our limits on things we can do, and focus on a few key tasks. We use our time with intention and purpose.

Above all, we know how to eliminate the unnecessary, adding new elements only if they add to value to the way we live. The money happens, but not at the cost of selling our time for it.

Tempus edax rerum. (Time, the devourer of everything.) – Ovid