Time is all we have and is the most valuable resource. Once you understand this, you will start making optimal decisions around it.
ROI or Return On Investment is a term that everyone hears very frequently. It is mostly in relation to business and finance, as the obvious goal is to maximize the returns on the money that is invested. But once youu dive deeper, you will understand tht everything is actually related to time and not to money.
Every action we do is an investment of time. If we are watching good show, then it’s an investment of time on entertainment. Whereas when we watch a show that sucks, then it’s a bad investment.
Time is way more valuable than money, as we can always make more money, but time once lost never comes back. We spend itacross multiple avenues like working, eating, sleeping, exercise, entertainment, etc. All of these things are important, so it’s required to maintain a balance on how we spend/invest time across all these areas.
But deciding on how to invest the time is a considerable task, as there are no spreadsheets to refer. We can only trust out intuition and experience to design a pattern which suits our own life.
Looking for Multiple Positives
This is an activity which generates positive returns in more than one area, while incurring fewer losses. One example is c\building on a website. It contributes to small and steady growth, and can also provide a stream of income, which can be used in the future to focus on other tasks that you like.
For someone else, it might be playing cricket, which is a fun game, and also can be an exercise. The key is to find an activity which can have positives in multiple areas.
Avoiding Multiple Negatives
This is just the opposite of Multiple Positives. One should avoid any task that negatively affects multiple areas. One example is drinking. This activity wastes time, it’s expensive, and also has an ill-effect on health. And if you didn’t enjoy the activity, it’s probably loss-loss of all kinds.
It’s not that one shouldn’t do this activity ever. But one can balance it out to some times only, so that it’s enjoyable and doesn’t become a habit.
Utilizing Compounding
People normally associate compounding with money, where you earn money on interest earning interest for you. This given a long time will return a large sum of money. But little do they understand, that compounding applies to time too. If you invest it when you are young, then you are going to reap it’s benefits through life. And if you waste it, then you are going to be sad over the lost opportunities, but the time wasted isn’t coming back.
Most people are brought up with the childish mindset when they are young, as the necessities are fulfilled by their parents. So they continue wasting their time through the initial phases of life. Some even continue this childish pattern to their adult life. Most people think that their time isn’t valuable when they aren’t working by the hour, and they waste their hours on meaningless activities. The truth is they should be using it to build their future, because no one else is going to consider yours valuable.
If you want to acquire freedom and live your ideal lifestyle, then you need to make sure that you take every decision keeping your time as the only currency.
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