Originally published on augustafreepress.com
“Time is money” is a common phrase and is typically used to mean that people should strive to do things as quickly as possible, as time is a valuable resource. However, is this long-held aphorism true, or good advice to live your life by? Indeed, we in modern society often calculate our time in terms of how much money that we make (i.e., hourly jobs, etc.), but that does not mean that money has the same value as time.
If your focus is solely on money, you might miss out on other important factors for living a successful life. Money is no doubt an important goal, but what about other things like networking and learning? Moreover, money is something that is fungible and can be replaced. But once the time is gone, it’s gone for good. Here, successful entrepreneur, Adam Ferrari discusses key ways to maximize your financial stability by spending time on skills, knowledge, and social connections.
Your time is important
For many people, working an extra hour or two a day is not a big deal. People justify this by thinking that the extra money they get makes up for the time spent. But what if you could be investing that time more wisely than just chugging away at your job? What about using that time to learn a new skill that will ultimately benefit your life more than an extra hour at your current job will?
When you have to choose between time and work, merely staying a few extra hours at your job might be time that you could better spend on something more productive that is aimed at your future goals and career advancement.
Get more value out of time
We often think of time in a purely sequential fashion: singular event A follows event B, and so on. But time can be used to do multiple things together, which ultimately allows you to squeeze more value out of each time unit. For example, there are several ways that you can batch similar jobs together. Say you spend a lot of time answering questions from your team.
Maybe there is some way that you could address the majority of their questions at once, such as through an online board or department memo. Note: this does not mean multitasking but scaling your time to your priorities.
Be honest with yourself
The truth is, most people probably do not spend their time as efficiently as they could. Whether it’s small meetings that eat away at your time during the day or tasks that merely fill up time rather than move you further towards your goals, we waste a lot of time.
Using your time wisely involves honestly assessing your time usage to make adjustments and be more efficient. People tend to overestimate their productivity, which can be a barrier to admitting that you need to be a bit wiser with managing your time.
Time is a valuable resource and, in many respects, is worth more than money. Time, like money, has a better payoff when you invest with it for the future.
About Adam Ferrari
Adam Ferrari is the founder of the mineral acquisitions company Ferrari Energy. He is a chemical engineer by degree and is an accomplished petroleum engineer by profession. He also has experience in the financial sector through his work at an investment banking firm. Under his leadership, his company has supported numerous charitable organizations, including St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Freedom Service Dogs, Denver Rescue Mission, Coats for Colorado, and Next Steps of Chicago.