Personal Finance Challenge #15: Time Is Greater Than Money

We tend to forget that time is greater than money…

We work and work and work, all so someone can put some money in our hands…

Then we squander our money away… on toys… on comforts… on required things for the job…

And hopefully at some point we realize that our jobs are costing us much more than we ever realized…

I hope you are not in that boat.

I hope that you find your job satisfying. I hope that your job not only allows you to pay all the bills, but to save a good deal of money as well. I hope that your job uses your natural talents and abilities, and gives you some joy in life. I hope that the people you work with build you up, rather than tear you down. And I hope that since you are improving your work, and your work is improving you, that your work is also helping to improve the lives of those around you…

Time is greater than money.

Money can be earned, spent, saved, and invested.

Time can only be spent and invested. You can not earn more time. Neither can you save time.

Time never stops moving. It always moves forward. And it only moves at the speed it moves at. You can not stop it. You can never gain more time. It is constantly slipping out of your hands.

This is why time will always be more valuable.

Trying to “save” time is a useless practice that often fails in it’s purpose. Trying to do something faster is usually not better. If something is worth doing, it is worth taking the time to do it well, not faster. If you can do something faster, then great! Now use the “extra” time you have to make that same thing even better.

You can not “earn” time. You can only trade time. If you earn time to do one thing, you spend time doing something else to earn it. It is all a wash in the end, and often leaves you poorer than when you started. If you get a great return on your hours spent, then great! But know that you did not earn it, you spent some time here to gain something else over there.

Time is spent and it is invested.

We spend time for enjoyment, and invest time in hopes of greater enjoyment in the future. Yet people often spend their time on something they dislike or even hate, in hopes of greater enjoyment in the future. It often does not work out as planned.

Time is best spent doing things worth doing. Time is best invested in making those things worth doing even better.

Treat time with the value it deserves. It is worth far more money then you can imagine.

This is our 15th challenge in The Personal Finance Challenge Series…