Time IS More Valuable Than Money



Posted: Monday, June 02, 2008

by
Street Level Consultants

The average life expectancy of a child born in North America Today is Seventy-six years. Consider that, if from age twenty she or he WASTED 15 minutes per day for the remaining fifty-six years of their lives, what the consequence might suggest. Even though the 15 minutes per day may seem nominal, it’s one hour and forty five minutes per week, ninety-one hours per year, and 5,096 hours over fifty-six years. Polls indicate that most people waste a lot more than 15 minutes with the bulk of respondents admitting to wasting 30 minutes or more each day. If 30 minutes is closer to the norm, that would calculate to more than 10,000 wasted hours over fifty-six years!

A four year university requires 2,400 classroom hours for a degree. Imagine how much knowledge you could acquire in 10,000 hours. How skilled you could become at a sport, or in mastering a musical instrument, or pursuing the endeavor of your choice if you had an extra 10,000 hours? Think how much closer we would be to eradicating cancer if all the researchers were to spend 10,000 more hours in the labs!

I’m amazed at how many people invest their money, but squander their time. Businesses cannot function, much less succeed, without financial budgets and projections. As individuals, we need to create TIME budgets and projections. Each evening before I leave the office, I write down what I expect to achieve the following day. Next to each activity, I list a beginning time and a concluding time. Naturally; during the course of the day, there are disruptions and the schedule is constantly being revised. But, on most days, I manage to accomplish the items of greatest importance. Usually, that means extending the time spent at the office. What I’m unable to do in a given day goes on the top of the list for the following day. My list has become a very effective tool for time management. As a consequence, I find that I’m never to busy to do the things that are important to me. There’s an old axiom to the effect that “if you want to get something done, give it to a person who is very busy and that person will have time for it."

It’s been my experience that the people who say “there aren’t enough hours in the day," are often the same ones who tend to daydream or plop down in front of the TV or focus on problems instead of solutions.

In the first and final analysis, we have two saleable commodities: TIME and TALENT. How well we use our time is a determinate as to how talented we become!

Paul is a successful, multifaceted, highly diversified executive who has an extensive background in acquisitions and start-ups. For 26 years, Mr. Myer has been involved in the marketing and distribution of consumer products and business services. He has successfully started and grown five separate businesses; all to in excess of $100 million dollars; as well as acquired and sold several others.

Michael J Gilbert has long been involved in small business having started 12 businesses in 22 years. Michael consults small businesses on sales, marketing, customer service and holds CEO roundtables to help small business owners make more money faster.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Susan Thom
 3 years 250 days ago.
175 fans.
hi michael, this was a well written, interesting article that really makes you think. a lot of wasted hours. writing down what you expect to achieve the next day is a great idea. thanks for sharing, best regards, sue thom
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