Thursday, July 31, 2008

Thought of the Moment #2

Time or Money, what is more valuable?

I have never heard an old person say "I wish I would have spent more time at work".

Wow what a simple yet complex question, I could write a book on my theory about time vs. money but since this is a blog I will not bore you with it. However if you ever want to know I would love to talk with you about it over a cup of tea. Anyway, when I think about this question first I think about the properties of both:

Money: I can make, save and spend as much or as little money as I please. I can give it away or I can physically throw it in the trash. Money will never run out, I mean it might run out of my bank account or wallet, because it has many times, but I can always get more and as much as I want.

Time: I have been given only a certain amount of time for my life. I can not save time, it will keep going no matter what I do, I can not spend time, it is spent for me, and I can not make time, you get the point. I can not give time away and I can not throw time in the trash. Time WILL run out one day and there is nothing I can do about it.

After reading these 2 comparisons which do you think is the most valuable? I think time is more valuable 100 times over. Some will argue that "I save time by the decisions I make or the actions I take". This usually comes up with that career driven, money motivated person, which I have been in the past. However; I am sorry you can not save time, you can do things more efficiently however when you are through with the task at hand another will arise and in the mean time your wife's time is ticking, your kids time is ticking, and lets not forget your time is ticking as well. So why as human beings do we spend 20 to 30 years of our life working our time away for something as inferior as money, retirement, and ultimately boredom? By then our time with our kids has expired, some of our friends time has expired, and we are inching closer to that final second. I think work is important and I think money is important too but when compared to time those 2 things are nothing. Have you ever heard the phrase, "live today like it is your last"? Have you ever tried it? If you have let me know, because I would expect you to be broke and unemployed because you did not show up for work, in fact you called your boss and cussed him or her out, you gave all your money away to friends and family and you had one of the most incredible days of your life spending time with those that you love so much!!! That is my dream, not retirement, not riches but the ability to live everyday as my last. Giving away my riches to friends and family and having the most incredible and memorable TIMES with my family. Having that feeling that I do not want the day to end and waking up as early as possible thanking God for more time with them. Thanking God for allowing me to see my wife and children again and repeat the above.

Please let me know what you think about this topic and if you want to talk further about this I would love too. This is one of my favorite topics.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I am a bit of a work-a-holic, I'll admit. But I do it for a good cause. Me! I live alone and I have a house that, until recently, I rarely got to see. I would leave the house in the morning and start at the gym, teach morning preschool, do some errands, then start my evening job. I would sometimes go weeks at a time without even turning on my living room lights because all I did was walk in my house and go to bed. Wake up, then leave. So I work a lot now, but I work differently than before, so I can enjoy my evenings, at home, with a cup of tea. Or a pot of tea... Depends on what kind of day I've had. So while time is definately more valuable, as it can not be returned, etc, money is also very important because if I had some of it, I wouldn't have to spend so much time working, haha.

Paycheck to paycheck. Fortunately, I love my jobs, and I love my house. So it is worth it.