Is it me? I’ve never known so much worry about money, and I’m tired of hearing that our economy isn’t growing as fast as it should. As though a fast-growing economy is the solution to our financial perils. It seems to me that the desire to seek ever-expanding economic opportunities is what got us into this mess.
Money troubles seem to be everywhere – personal finances, national bailouts, the global economy. Our spending patterns are under scrutiny and it feels like the world order is on the brink of change. It’s quite possible that some of the financial security we have taken for granted and built our lives around may be at risk. Imagine!
Funny how so many people worry about how they spend their money – but so few people give any deep thought to how they spend their time.
Time is the ultimate scarce resource. No matter how hard you work or how clever you become you can’t create more of it. You can’t save it and you can’t invest it. There are only 24 hours in a day and we can’t expect much more than 80 years in a life – if we’re lucky.
I suppose it was cancer that really opened my eyes to the value of time. I realised that I hadn’t done what I wanted to do and I hadn’t always used my time carefully – packing too much stuff in that I ‘should’ or ‘ought’ to do – and not leaving enough space for the things I really wanted to do. I also saw that no amount of money now, or in the future, could make up for that loss.
I began to understand that I have choices around the way I spend my time in exactly the same way that I make decisions about how I spend my money. I became more generous towards people and things that lit me up – and miserly about some of the boring and dutiful things that bring me down. (The things that I did to get cosmic brownie points but leave me feeling tired and cross.)
For example, I refused to sit on any more committees because I hate them. On the other hand I now spend more time outdoors and in the garden – something I tend to think of as a treat, only when all the chores are done.
The biggest change though is refusing to spend my work time feeling uninspired. I was no longer capable of renting my time to someone else in return for a salary (unless the cause was totally aligned with my beliefs). I needed all my time because there was so much I wanted to do.
I don’t kid myself that my decision has made the slightest difference in the big wide world. Although I do have a few clients who would argue with that. But it makes the most enormous difference to me.
The nagging feeling I used to have of not quite being on the right track has completely gone. I know that if I die tomorrow I will have spent this day well. I will have owned my time and chosen my path and lived my own life in a purposeful way. And for me that is more valuable than anything else.
I believe the world would be a better place if we were more aware of how we spend our time and less aware of how we spend our money.
What do you think?
…is a phrase that gets used a lot when people want you to adopt a tougher approach to life.
