Time Is Money

What’s the one thing you never seem to have enough of? TIME. Time is a scare resource, you can never make more of it and it’s constantly slipping away. This scarcity and non-renewability is what makes time worth money.

We’re often forced to spend our valuable time on things we don’t deem worthy of our precious minutes and hours but feel are necessary in life. Remember the last time you sat in a traffic jam, spent hours on a ridiculous project at work, filled out mountains of mindless paperwork, or waited on a slow internet connection? As the time ticked by you probably got angry and asked yourself “why am I wasting my time like this”?

I think it’s a good sign if these things upset you, it shows you value your time and will likely look for ways to conserve more of it. No matter what your profession or role in life, your time is worth money, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Let’s look at some examples that illustrate how much money time is really worth:

Trading Time for Dollars
If you get paid by the hour its very obvious that time is money. The more hours you work, the more money you make, and vice versa. If you’re a salaried employee you likely get paid the same no matter how many hours you work, which in a way makes your time even more valuable. The more efficient you can be, the more you can get done at work which could translate into promotions and a higher salary. Or looked at another way, the faster you can get done with your work the more time you have for other things in life.

Dollars for Efficiency
Have you ever heard of the popular books “Getting Things Done” or the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”? Why are these such a hit? These best sellers have made the authors a lot of money because people are willing to pay to learn how to make better use of their time.

The Clock is Ticking
Many people have at least one favorite sports team they like to follow. Think back to a game where they were losing with only seconds left on the clock. How much do you think the coach or players of the losing team would pay just for an extra 5 or 10 minutes to give them a chance to come out on top?

Life is Short
How much do you think a person on their deathbed would pay to have another healthy year of life to live? If it was possible to put a dollar amount on a year of someone’s life I imagine most people would pay whatever it took.

Use Your Time Wisely
Next time find yourself spending time on something you’d rather not be doing ask yourself if it’s really worth the time you’re putting into it. Maybe find an alternate activity, a different way of doing it, or just avoid it all together. Modern life takes a huge toll on our time, what can you do to take back more of your valuable time?

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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