The value of time

Time is the one thing that runs and never stops for anything or anyone. It runs regardless of what we are doing or not doing. Time is the one resource we cannot regain once we spend it. As the saying goes, “Time is money.” However, time is much more valuable than money, as we cannot buy or manufacture it. It is the one asset that we cannot buy even with all the capital of the world. Therefore, it is an essential asset that humankind possesses, and it should be treated with utmost care.

Interestingly enough, time is given initially to us freely. As one approaches old age, most people report that they wish they could go back in time and rearrange their priorities. At a young age, however, we have so much of it and no idea what to do with it.

Someday, I say to myself this is just unfair. I’m sure you are laughing, but I know you most likely feel this way sometimes too. Why does no one tell us these things? As the saying goes, “If youth knew and if old age could”. I must admit. I learned this adage very early on, and I didn’t understand it even then. This isn’t kind that young individuals will most likely have all the time ahead of them and yet would mostly lack the basic intelligence and knowledge to seize it and grasp its full potential. By the time the youth notice the value of the time wasted, it is mostly already too late, and the child now old cannot go back and fix some mistakes that left their consequences on him or her and are chasing them as bad debts that is way overdue. 

Luckily, we can choose not to be left powerless and learn how to harness the power of time and use it to our advantage. Where I came from, to harness the power of time, youths will gather around elderlies and try to pick as much knowledge as possible through stories that the elderly share. These elderlies will share their adventures, mistakes, and what they wish they had known when they were young. If you were an intelligent youth, this was the only way to avoid some pitfalls in your early life. Luckily for us in the modern world, we have the Internet, books, and pliantly of elderlies who left behind many resources that we can tape in just by a simple search on the Internet. Therefore, we should start from there and see what we can learn and how we can at least better position ourselves to meet time halfway, if not all the way. 

When we turn to research, we learn that research has shown that people who prioritize their time towards meaningful activities, such as spending time with loved ones, engaging in hobbies, and pursuing their passions, have higher life satisfaction and well-being levels. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people who spent time on activities aligned with their values and interests reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction.

I’m sure we have all heard of the famous New York banker and the Mexican fisherman parable that illustrates the importance of living a simple and fulfilling life. One day, a New York banker vacationed in a small coastal village in Mexico. Walking along the beach, he encountered a local fisherman who had just returned from a fishing trip. The banker noticed that the fisherman had caught several large fish, and he asked him how long it had taken to catch them.

The fisherman replied that it had only taken him a few hours to catch the fish. The banker then asked the fisherman why he didn’t spend more time fishing, to which the fisherman replied that he had caught enough fish for his family and didn’t need to catch any more.

This answer surprised the banker, who asked the fisherman what he did with the rest of his time. The fisherman replied that he spent time with his family, took naps in the afternoon, played soccer with his sons and played guitar, and sang with his friends in the evenings.

The banker then offered the fisherman some advice. He told him that if he spent more time fishing, he could catch more fish and sell them for a higher price. He could buy a larger boat and hire other fishermen to work for him with the extra money. Eventually, he could build a fishing empire and become very wealthy. The fisherman asked the banker what would he do with all this money, to which the banker replied that he would retire early and spend his days fishing, napping, and playing soccer with his sons and guitar with his friends.

The fisherman then replies that he was already doing all of that, so why wait until he retires when he has no more energy to start playing with his friends and spending time with his family?

As you can see, the moral of the parable is that we get so caught up with small and meaningless rocks that by the time we realize that we are being cheated out of our time, it is mostly too late. Like the New York banker who works no stop only to take two weeks of vacation each year where the fisherman in Mexico is on vacation all year long.

This small parable expresses how tricky it can be for most people to discover their core values. How do we even know what our passion is to align with it in the first place?

When we turn to Steven Covey, one big advocate of time, he recommends that we identify our values clearly. Covey suggests that we start by identifying our core values such as, honesty, integrity, and compassion. By understanding what is most important to us, we can better prioritize our time and energy. When we are young, it is easy to chase after wealth and all material things of the world and, by doing so, sacrifice our core values and core beliefs. We fall prey to wanting to please people and go out of our way to stick around people even when they make our stomach cringe.

We mistake material things for happiness and end up with many regrets, what if I did this instead of that in our old ages and become very beater, miserable, and grumpy. If we follow Covey’s advice, we will only go with people who align with our principles. We will not mind losing “friends” who want to trick us into doing things we can’t stand. We will easily leave the workplace that pays us the most but disrespects and leaves us feeling less than a human being. You get the point. Run away from anything your heart and conscience question. If you feel terrible about a situation, a place, or someone, chances are you are correct. Let go before you regret wasting time there ten or twenty years later.

Research has found that people who value material possessions over experiences are more likely to experience feelings of loneliness and depression. Conversely, research shows that individuals who prioritize work and material possessions over experiences and relationships tend to be less happy and satisfied with their lives. I ask what the point is then. Life is not given to us for eternity on earth, so why waste it doing things that are less valuable to us? Would you trade a hundred dollars for a ten? No, you will not do such a thing, so why do we do it mostly daily, by wasting our time and giving it to people and things that don’t matter to us?

It is important to recognize that time is a finite resource, and we must be mindful of how we spend it. We often take for granted the time we have and waste it on meaningless activities that do not bring us happiness or fulfillment. It is essential to prioritize our time towards activities aligned with our values and passions and to spend time with the people we care about.

I introduce Steven Covey, the author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” to you early. He is a well-known advocate of time management and productivity. In his book, one of the most important books you will read in your life, he emphasizes the importance of prioritizing our time and focusing on what he calls “the big rocks.” The big rocks represent the most important things in our lives, such as our health, relationships, and personal development. I introduced one of his recommendations to you earlier. His other recommendations for prioritizing our time are to plan. Once we have identified our values, Covey recommends creating a plan that aligns with those values.

This plan should include specific goals and actions that we can take to achieve those goals. Most of us could be better at setting goals for ourselves and sticking with them no matter what. But guess what the alternatives are? If we have no plans for ourselves, others will make plans for us, and since we don’t know what we want or stand for, guess what happens next? We ended up living for others and being dragged by every wind. If you have not done so yet please sit down, spend some time, and seek to know yourself, then identify what makes you feel alive, what makes you smile and what matters to you and plan according to those characteristics. Next time a friend comes along and asks you for something that does not fit within those boundaries, watch how easy it will be to say a big fat NO.  

Another recommendation is to prioritize the big rocks. Covey suggests that we prioritize our time by focusing on the big stones representing the most critical things in our lives. This might include spending time with family and friends, exercising regularly, or pursuing a personal passion. I found that this is the most difficult one of all recommendations as the big items in question don’t show immediate results but, when compounded, carry a big weight. To understand how to hack into the natural reward system of the brain and reprioritize the big items that seem not to bring reward right the way and seem discouraging, stick with me next Saturday, and we will explore together once more. The big rocks topic is of most importance, and it is worth dedicating an entire page just for it.

Covey recommends we say no to the little rocks. We must learn to say no to activities and tasks that do not align with our values or our goals. By saying no to the little rocks, we can free up more time to focus on the big rocks. The small stones are daily “cool” activities such as eating unhealthy food and going to the club while we know that we have an exam due next week. Not valuing our health because we don’t feel sick yet, not valuing our education because it is time-consuming and painful. Waste too much time engaging in wasteful conversations that don’t bring us any new information, educate us or add any value to our life or to others.

This one is easy to spot. Next time you find yourself doing something and struggling to find actual value for it. Yes, you know you got a little rock in your hand, and it is about to steal your time. Do you want me to be more specific? I’m sure you have that one friend who shares a Facebook video or a TikTok video with you. You started watching this one video and by the time you notice, you started watching more videos and three hours later, you are still on Facebook, and yet you are unable to article what you’ve learn or how you got down that rabbit hole to start with.

It is easy to say NO to the small rocks, but we must first identify them as they can crip on us and hide as important to our life. Become good at locating them and saying no to them. 

Lastly, let us practice time management as Covey suggests using a time management system that helps us stay organized and focused on our priorities. We can use for a time management system, a simple calendar, a to-do list, or one of the modern fancy productivity apps. Time management is vital, since we have so little of it and too many things are competing to have every bit of time, managing time becomes very valuable. Let us learn how to do time management and become a master at it. Let us ensure that everything you spend time on is accounted for. Remember that your health and education represent the biggest rocks. Time without good health is torture, and if you don’t educate yourself to learn how to save time, you ended wasting time on useless things.

It seems straightforward, but we could improve by recognizing where we need education. I have a real-life example for you or even a question. When did you last read the manual for an item you purchased? Does it make sense to read the manual and apply the commendation provided in the manual for errors in case the items malfunction? Instead, what do we do? We waste time trying to guess what was happening, and we even break the item even more. If you find yourself here, please don’t feel bad. We, human beings, are just terrible with some things.

Today, I want to leave you with these parting thoughts. Pay attention to what or who you spend your time on or with. We usually overlook time because we don’t have a true value proposition for it. Educate yourself. Education is critical as knowledge is not static. Knowledge evolves.