The only true equality that really exists on this planet.
Once upon a time in a small town in the South of India, a wise wealthy old man was down on his death bed. A lot of people had gathered at his home hearing the news out of respect to the old man.
Many were inspired by his life of rising up from humble beginnings. One young man who had gathered at the house, asked the old man,” Can you give us some valuable lessons from your life experience?“.
The wise man said, “I will give you a lesson but for that, I need some more time. I am running out of time, can you please take all my wealth and buy some time for me.”
The young man was baffled and asked the wise man,” How is it even possible to buy time even with all the resources of this world.”
The wise man calmly replied as he was living his last moments,” So, understand the value of time which cannot be bought with any amount of wealth.”
The purpose of this essay is to talk about some very obvious things because it is the most obvious things that we miss out in our everyday lives.
The only true equality that really exists on this planet is that all we humans possess the same 24 hours. What each one of us in turn, do with the time at our disposal can make a difference in our lives. The thing about time is it doesn't wait for anyone. Not yet, we don’t have a way to freeze time on our planet (from the viewpoint of an observer outside the black hole, time stops), move forward or backward, every moment just passes by even if we pause by. Time is a very fascinating thing - the past, present and future; the question of its very existence; if it has a beginning or an end; and more.
Time is the most unknown of all unknown things. - Aristotle
Our life is also measured in ‘time’ how long each one of us end up living on this planet. On an average a human lives for 79 years and spends almost 26 years in the bed sleeping.
To understand life we have to understand 'time'. Time is the most powerful finite resource in our lives.
Time is money.
Alex happens to acquaint Bob. If Bob goes out to Alex asking for money every now and then, Alex might not probably entertain Bob. But Alex might consider giving some time speaking to Bob and at the end, Alex might not stay acquainted with Bob. Alex could have always made some extra money but not extra time. Learn to value your time.
“A man who dares to waste an hour of time has not discovered the value of his life.” — Charles Darwin
This doesn’t mean we mustn’t spend time with the ones who we truly care about. As we grow older we become too “busy” for our parents, and many of us wish to have them back only after they’re gone. It’s important to spend quality time with people who really matter in our lives.
Time compounds.
Wealth compounds. Knowledge compounds. Interest Compounds. Time does too.
Small consistent investments in time yield surprisingly large returns over time.
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway isn’t as busy as we are. By his own estimate, he has spent 80 per cent of his career reading and thinking. Charlie Munger at the 2016 Daily Journal annual meeting shared that the only scheduled item on Buffet's calendar one week was getting his haircut and that most of his weeks were similar. This is the opposite of most of us who are overwhelmed with short-term deadlines, meetings, and minutiae.
In Munger’s words, ‘Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.’
The 1.00 vs 1.01 Rule |1.00 ^ 365 = 1.00 1.01 ^ 365 = 37.3
This is also the philosophy of Kaizen which embraces small, continuous improvement. To understand this let’s understand ‘Consistency’ which means you’re making progress even when you’re not feeling it. It is about building small empowering habits and rituals that you partake in every single day that keep you focused on your highest priorities and goals. The compounding effect of consistency is the power of time. You won’t see much of a difference today, nor will you see a difference tomorrow, next week or even next month. But over the course of many years, your consistency-in-action will build the foundations of a far richer and more fulfilling life. Time is powerful.
Time sometimes makes some people and things irrelevant.
When we look back in ‘time’ many a time the things and people that once mattered to us, made us happy or sad, that haunted us might no longer find relevance in our lives. The reason for this is, we evolve as a person over time due to the life path we chose to traverse in. Time is a magician. And this is time's way of teaching what really matters to us.
Time Heals.
People say time heals all wounds, the passage of time only reduces the intensity of pain. But it's actually what we do with ‘time’ that heals.
Time is Scarce.
We all want to be more productive with our time but end up in endless social media scrolls or binge-watching TV shows to get dopamine hits. Ending up wanting more time and failing to understand that time is a finite resource. And Seneca wrote it 2000 years ago, it is not that we have a short time to live but that we waste a lot of it.
Respect Time
Your time and everybody else's time. Sometimes it is even better to stay away from people who have scant respect for your time.
Spend time on things that truly add value to your life. Our power lies in making use of the equality of time. Life is like a single-player video game as Naval says with one life and no extra credits of time for anyone.
“The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money.” — Warren Buffett
True wealth means having the ability to live life in your own terms and having the freedom of time more importantly.
Time is finite, money isn't.
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