(The following is an excerpt from the book, Hacking Normal by John Stevenot available on Amazon.com)
I want to propose the idea that we should begin to operate within a system built on the principle I call money value of time (MVT).
The money value of time says that;
“The time available now is worth more than the same amount in the future, due to the future’s potential to simply not exist because of unforeseeable and unpredictable variables.”
This core principle of life holds that any amount of time is worth more now than it is later. The money value of time assumes that our time is finite.
Until someone can cheat death and live indefinitely, the only time that is guaranteed to us is the time we have experienced or are currently experiencing.
There is no promise of tomorrow.
Therefore, time is limited and highly valuable. Time is most valuable in the current moment. Time, unlike money, cannot be protected by investing it in another source.
The loss of time is permanent.
When used unwisely and without a desire for efficacy, the loss of time is compounded. The loss is compounded because if time could have been better used doing another task or used for a greater experience, you leave less time for another experience or moment.
Time cannot be invested and cannot compound to yield an 8 percent increase annually. The money value of time concept has helped me to see the importance of today, instead of dreaming about what could happen tomorrow.
This means that your time in the present moment is worth more than the same amount of time in the future.
Sacrificing your time today for some future gain is a divestment, not an investment. If this idea is groundbreaking, good, but it shouldn’t be.
All of us apply this idea of the money value of time, we just don’t realize it.
The MVT is a rational decision that all of us make when we want to weigh the cost and benefit of action we are about to take.
It’s what Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, calls trade-offs.
Trade-offs decide the value of your time. What you decide to do now instead of something else is an evaluation of something’s worth when compared to your time.
- MVT is why you chose to mow the lawn yesterday, not today.
- MVT is why you chose to hit the snooze button twice this morning.
- MVT is the reason why you chose to listen to your friend’s advice concerning political issues instead of investigating the issues on your own.
Ultimately, MVT boils down to what matters most now. When you apply this to work, you’ll be surprised how your priorities change.
For example, you could choose to spend your time working eight hours a day, Monday to Friday at the office, making $(x),000 per year while daydreaming about kayaking down a river over the weekend.
With that reality, you would be just like everyone else in society. You would be investing all your optimal time during the week, hoping for a fun-fueled release for 48 hours over the weekend.
Or…
You could work the same job (or a different job) at $(x),000 per year, but only spend three hours a day getting your tasks done and the last five hours of your work day kayaking on the river, while listening to an entire Beethoven symphony or reading your favorite book.
Here’s my big question to you: if you could complete your daily tasks in three hours and then have the rest of the day to do whatever you wanted with your time, do you think you could?
If you said yes, why isn’t that what’s happening now?