We are taught from a young age to see money as our most precious resource. We are led to believe that we can make up for any of our shortcomings just by spending money. This is the power of marketing at work. Marketing works best when we feel that we are missing out on something really important but, thankfully, we can make amends by purchasing that product which just happens to be offered to us at that specific moment in time. How convenient!
While money, when used effectively, can help us to enjoy a much better quality of life; it is not the be all and end all. Our most precious resource is not money; it is time. More specifically, the ability to gift our time to ourselves, and others, in a manner which allows us to derive the maximum enjoyment from life. Of course, just like money; how you spend your time is critically important.
While money is a very useful resource; time is the most important thing a man can spend. It is finite and it cannot be gotten back. We must learn to use it wisely.
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Common ways in which we waste our time
Below are three of the most common ways in which we fail to appreciate the true value of our time and, as a result, waste precious moments doing things that we really shouldn’t be doing.
1. Sacrificing time for money
We have been conditioned to trade time for money. If we want to make more money, we sacrifice more of our time. However, if you ask any wealthy person, they will tell you that the moment they really started to make money in their life was the moment they stopped trading time for money.
Instead, they found ways to make more money from the time they were already dedicating to their work. For me, this has meant creating and selling more “passive products” but for you, there may be other ways of doing so. For example, delegating, outsourcing and ensuring that you only focus on your most important tasks will make much better use of the time you have already allocated for work.
You can read more about focusing on what is important here.
2. Trying to please others
It’s great to have relationships which nourish and support us. But it is important that these relationships do not require us to sacrifice our own identity, goals and dreams. You only get one life so it is important that you live your life on your own terms. You shouldn’t have to be somebody else to please other people. This is called approval seeking and it is a form of self-rejection.
Rather than pretend to be somebody that you are not; focus on living true to yourself. Live by your own values and pursue your own goals and dreams. You will find the right people to share your time with along the way.
You can read more about approval seeking here.
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend
3. Guilt and worry
The past is gone and cannot be changed. If you did something which you feel was wrong, there is nothing you can do to take it back. Sure, if you feel an apology is warranted, you can make an apology but then you need to move on. It is easy to live in the past but as long as you do so; you will not prosper in the present and you will not be able to build the future you desire.
Worrying about the future is another huge waste of your precious time. You are worrying about something that may never happen which prevents you from taking the action you need to take to get where you want to go. If you are really concerned about something which might go wrong, identity any preventative action you can take and implement it. Then start taking action.
If you can’t identify any preventative action, just accept that there is some risk involved and move on.
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Conclusion
Money is a wonderful resource, when used correctly. It can help you to improve the quality of your life. However, it is not the most important resource when it comes to determining your quality of life. How you spend your time is far more important. Your time is a gift which you can give to yourself or you can share with others. While you can always make more money; you can never make more time. Treat your time as the precious resource that it is and spend it wisely. When you learn to value your time more than your money, you will take giant strides towards achieving the high quality of life which you both desire and deserve.