Timekeeper

When you realize that life is time, it resonates with you that time really is the most precious resource we have. For years, I have looked for a way to literally buy time. While that in itself is not possible, at least not yet, I am working on alternative solutions. Some of which I want to share with you now. Here, I want to demonstrate the connection between time and money because over many years I had it all wrong. I would constantly complain to myself about not earning enough money or about wasting too much of my money. But those two issues were never the real problem. What I was really doing was wasting my time.

Work, like money, is nothing more than a medium of exchange. Being that I have realized this late in life I feel I need to share this tidbit with as many people as possible.

Every dollar you have set aside in your wallet or your 401k isn’t really money at all. It is time disguised as money.

It is blood, sweat, and tears disguised as greenbacks. If you are saving money, you are storing time. Read that again if you have to because once this sinks in, your life is never the same. Allow me to explain.

We’ve all heard the famous expression by Benjamin Franklin who said “Time is money.” Life moves so fast it is easy to forget something we should always be mindful of.

The reality is, when you spend your cash, you’re not really spending your money. You are spending your time.

Realizing this, it is fair game to relate that if you waste your money, in essence, you are wasting your time. Remember how I stated earlier that work is a medium of exchange? The simplest example I can use is that of the hourly wage. As an employee, you provide one hour of time to your employer and they provide an hour of compensation in exchange for your labor. In total, your wage determines the value of your time in the eyes of your employer.

We live our lives trading our time for money. It took me far too long to realize this and truly have it resonate with me. Those cool name brand shades I wanted fifteen years ago that were $260 didn’t really cost me that money. At the time I was earning $10 an hour. They cost me 26 hours of direct sunlight, sweat inducing, never-ending car washing labor, in blazing Las Vegas heat in the prime of July. That younger much more materialistic version of myself did buy those shades which I still have to this day. But never did I ask myself that question: “Are these shades really worth 26 hours of my time?” Had I known then to ask myself that question, I may have still bought the shades, but not until they went on sale first.

The often ignored irony of all this boils down to the simplest way to get rich and have lots of money to spend is by not spending lots of money. Taking this one step further, if you spend less and invest the difference you’re well on your way to buying fancier shades. Eventually though, you hit a wall and as a result of this, change begins to filter through your thinking. Acquiring lots of material things is not the key to satisfying your desires. If it was, we would all be finalists in the contest for “world’s happiest person.” After years of spending and unfortunately wasting money on things I do not need, I’ve decided to play a new game.

If you would have paid me more money a few years ago all that would have meant is that I would spend more money. What you earn is not key. The key to getting rich is by consistently spending less than you earn which is a herculean task for many–myself included. It has taken me years to reapply money saving habits I once practiced daily because all through my 20’s I spent money like it was going out of style, surrounding myself with things. Not before my mid 30’s did I truly realize that I never really purchased things. I was spending something more valuable than money–I was spending time.

The only goal worth pursuing is the ability to exercise more control over our time. Lots of money and things will not get that job done. Control over time is what makes one happiest. This is the embodiment of freedom, because you are truly unencumbered if you can do what you want when you want every minute of every day. I am finding one way to leverage this idea and turn it into reality is by saving and investing–something that many people have figured out. You can look at it as follows: You can continue to trade time for money and money for things. Or, you can trade time for money and then take that money and use it as a tool to buy back time in the future, if not the present. This is where the power of saving and investing come in.

Whether you are washing cars or running a corporation, at the end of the day, you’re spending the same priceless resource as everyone else–Time. See to it that you are as wise a keeper of your time as necessary. Once you master control over your time, your finances will inevitably fall in line and so will the rest of your life, because you are operating from a position of controlled order as opposed to uncontrollable disorder. When it comes to your time and your money, trade prudently. Always be in control my friends.

–Daniel Cousin