What is the value of your Time? - Part 1
According to popular science, a human being in case everything goes well, will live roughly up to 76 years.
That's approximately:
- 913 Months
- 4000 Weeks
- 28000 Days
- 672000 Hours
(I guess minutes and seconds would be too suffocating to know)
So, how does it feel to put your entire life in a few numbers?
To be honest, when I first saw these figures, I really felt sad. I assumed that I had wasted a lot of time already. And it's a common notion. We as a species usually first think of the negative side of this whole argument.
So, since I am 22 years old - I'll minus the time I have lost against this idea number and re-do the math a bit. The time I have left now is 76-22 = 54 Years
That is -
- 650 Months
- 2817 Weeks
- 19723 Days
- 473040 Hours
Well does this personal valuation of my time alive make me feel any better? No, it doesn't. It still sucks! I wish I could quote maybe a philosopher or writer here with something like -
Time expands, then contracts, and in tune with the stirrings of the heart - Haruki Murakami
But I would rather quote something more reasonable -
Time is money - Benjamin Franklin or Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend - Theophrastus.
I mean, think about it, from the time you were an adult, if you could understand the 'time is money' concept. Spending time like a token that you have in finitude. Wouldn't that be better?
- Every hour you wasted on a negative emotion could be reduced to minutes
- Every day you spent in a one-sided relationship with your friends, acquaintances, or even your family could be saved
- Time spent on capitalistic and virtual stuff could be minimized
- Time spent on doing things you loved would be cherished
- Time spent learning and becoming better would be regarded
But we still consider time as such a big phenomenon that we squander it as if it will never end. This attitude towards the finite currency of time has led to a lot of agony for a lot of people. For example -
“Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever” – Samuel Smiles
Or
“Time is what we want most but what we use worst.” — William Penn
Or
By faithfully working eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.” ― Robert Frost
If you want to save yourself from this agony. If you want to not regret wasting time anymore. What you need to do is figure out the value of your time. This value could be compared against anything but the most tangible one for me is money. And don't just go on and say my time is worth $ 20 an hour. That's a vague and misleading statement to make. Nobody is paying you $ 2400 every day for the rest of your life just like that.
Be sensible and think about the kind of life you want to lead from here on, what it looks like, and what kind of money and freedom you want that life to have. Break it down into the hours of work, play, and rest. Break it down into goals and systems. But make sure you value your time against something. Like a currency, you once spend and cannot get back.
I am onto doing the math behind what I think my time's value is and the steps I need to take to increase that worth both monetarily and in terms of the freedom I seek.
Will be sharing the same in Part 2 of this series, so stay tuned!