Time Is Money: But It’s Also Your Worst Enemy
Maybe one day we’ll all live forever. But not right now. Not today. We only have so many days left and you never know when it’ll be your last. It’s hard to imagine. I know. I get it. Especially when we’re so wrapped up in things that are happening.
But don’t get it twisted for a single minute because time is ticking away. Every moment of every single day is a moment you can never buy back. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are. Once time is used it’s gone forever. That concept is less meaningful when you’re young. As a kid or a young adult you think you have all the time in the world.
You’ve probably heard that time is money. It is. But it’s also your worst enemy. Think about it this way. If you could know the exact moment you’ll die and have a big countdown clock on your phone, how would you feel? The truth? Knowing your impending death is terrifying. But we’re all in the same boat. We’re all going to die at some point. I’m not trying to sound dramatic. I’m just telling you the truth. You only have so much time left.
Time is not on your side, as much as you think it is. There’s a reason why people complain about never having enough time to do the things they love. It’s because our time is eaten up doing the things we need to do instead of doing the things we want to do. People say time is money because they never have enough time to go around. They’re so busy struggling to survive that they forget how to leverage time to thrive.
Time vs Money
Most people I talk to think that the most valuable resource in the world is money. But it’s not. It’s time. Because you can’t buy more of it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a millionaire or a billionaire. But I think this is all by design. There’s a reason why God only gives us so much time in this life.
The truth is that we are all spiritual beings. This isn’t our first time on earth and it won’t be our last. But the veil of consciousness sure makes it feel like this is our one and only life to live. However, that feeling should put some urgency behind you. It should make you get up and pay attention that you only have so much time left.
That’s why I’m such a firm believer in doing the things now that will pay you back down the road. Whatever your financial situation is in life, understand that time is more valuable than money. So you must use time as leverage to do the things that will pay you over and over instead of just once.
That’s a hard pill to swallow. Especially when you have bills to pay. But time is your worst enemy and instead of working once and getting paid once, why not work now and get paid repeatedly? It means you won’t get paid now. But you will get paid down the road, and it could very well be more money than you’ve ever seen in your life.
Invest Your Time Wisely
The time you do have should be used to make money. I’m not talking about working a second job. I’m talking about investing your time into things that will pay you down the road. Yes, that means passive income. Although you won’t get paid immediately, you will get paid repeatedly (but down the road).
This is a major departure from how most people make money. Most people are used to working now and earning now. But once you realize time is your worst enemy, you’ll understand that working now and getting paid later is a much better investment of your time. So how long will it take to get paid? It could be weeks. Months. Maybe even years.
This is called passive income. It’s called passive because once it starts to arrive, there’s very little involved in managing that income stream. This will give you the freedom to quit your day job and actually work on things that you’re passionate about. The trouble is that not enough people have the tenacity to keep working on something that pays them nothing for weeks, months, or years.
Passive income means you’re doing a lot of work for a long time with zero pay. That could mean posting hundreds of posts on social media before getting a following. It could mean editing hundreds of hours of videos on YouTube and waiting years for income to start rolling in. It could mean so many different things.
At the end of the day you have to make a choice. If you really do want to make money with the small amount of free time that you do have, then choose wisely. Choose what you do in a day and who you spend your time with. Invest your time into the things that will make you money down the road. And do it with a passion. That’s how you use your time now to make money tomorrow.
Time Management
I’m guessing that if you’re still reading this, you’re serious about using your time wisely. Sure, time is your worst enemy because you don’t have much of it left. So why not use what time you do have the right way? That means investing your time into things that count. It also means not wasting your time on meaningless things.
How many times have you looked back and said you wish you could have done something? How many times did you say you should have taken that opportunity instead of going with the safe route? Our calendars usually fill up with wasteful activities that get us nowhere. That’s because we fail to manage our time.
The point is not to waste the little time you have. The point is to invest the time you have wisely. Find a way to create value that will pay you repeatedly. Not just once. As soon as your passive income can exceed your active income, you can quit that job you hate. This will give you more time to spend doing what you love and being around the people you care about the most.
Quadrant Time Management
There’s this time management system that I love called quadrant time management. This involves auditing your time and breaking things up based on four separate quadrants. The four quadrants are based on two factors: urgency & importance.
Either something is urgent or important, both, or neither. The goal here is to avoid doing quadrant four activities. That’s when something is neither urgent nor important. That could be playing video games, wasting time scrolling on social media, going out drinking with friends and so on.
If you want to achieve big goals, make lots of money, and actually do something meaningful in life, spend your time in quadrant two. That’s when things are important but not urgent. That’s where long-term goals live and passive income strategies see you investing your time for a payout down the road.
At this point in life, you can’t afford to waste your time. It’s not getting you far. And when you look back years from now, if you don’t make some major changes, life will be the same. Do the important things now that are going to pay off down the road later.