We’re born with it. We spend it quickly in our early years, yet, the older we grow, the more aware we become of its finiteness.
Time is the human’s greatest wealth because we can’t buy more, and everyone is born a billionaire (I borrowed this from Naval).
There’s no time bank we can go to for a loan, no person who can lend us more. We’re our own time investors. It’s in our power to invest it in the things that we value most in our lives. If we fail to do so, at elderliness, we’re going to fill our hearts with sorrow and wish we could’ve bought back a few years to make things right.
I wish schools and universities would dedicate an entire semester to teach the importance of time, so people can truly realize its value.
The stoics used a reminder to make themselves more aware of the time’s value:
Memento mori
It means “Remember you [have to] die”. This way, they knew that every action they take must be aligned with their will and values.
A few weeks ago, there was a discussion between Sahil Lavingia and Naval Ravikant on leverage that struck me. At some point in the conversation, Naval mentions that we’re born time billionaires. As we grow older, we spend our time and turn into millionaires and so on.
We spent the majority of our life working. 8 hours each day, 5 days a week, for at least 30 years, until we can finally retire. If you’re lucky, it might be earlier. Now I don’t like to do the math as it might get more depressing, but if there’s one thing the pandemic taught us, it is that work can wait.
Today’s society is much more active than a century ago when the 40-hour work week started to pick up and become the norm. We have more interests. We travel more. We develop hobbies. We want to build our own business. Basically, we want to use our time for ourselves than rent it to others.
A few companies have started to make a shift in the right direction by experiencing with 4-day work weeks. Others moved to part-time and quarter-time employees. It’s a good start for building the work environment for the 21st century. I’m excited to see these initiatives flourish throughout the next decade. This is why I’ve launched an initiative to pay tribute to all these businesses where less is more.
Time can fly, or it can go slow as fuck. It’s foolish to think we can sacrifice a portion of it to gain more when we’re older. The goal is to invest it in the things that bring us joy and make us happy. We only get to use it once. Use it wisely.