How Important is Your Time?
It has been a while since my last post and quite frankly, I haven’t been updating my blog as often as I would like.
Exhaustion has caught up to me and I haven’t achieved much progress financially as of lately. I had no other choice but to take a short break from finances to recover. However, the good news is that I am now ready to get back into the game.
During my break, I have thought about the value of time and what it actually meant to me. I can’t explain it but I just happened to wake up one morning with an epiphany. I have realized that I may have taken my time for granted and it is something that I would like to change. Here is a deeper look into it:
Time is Finite!
Many people have probably heard the phrase “time is money” before.
Although I believe that to be quite true, I am starting to believe that time is more valuable than money. Having the freedom to do the things that I love instead of staying at a full time job is something that I look forward to at the end of my financial journey. Life is way too short for me to spend a third of my life working for someone else.
Another thing to consider is the energy spent at work. After a long day or week from my job, I have very little energy left over to pursue any financial goals. When I take this into account, I believe that my job takes way more than the 8 hours per day I spend there.
Sometimes I would like to think that if I was unemployed; my time could be better spent doing other things especially with my aggressive financial plan to freedom.
Freedom from Work
Having family responsibilities is one of the reasons why I haven’t put in my resignation already. Although I do not have a family of my own just yet, both my parents are getting old and I have no idea how much longer they can work before I have to take over.
If I only had to worry about myself, I might have quit my job a long time ago and started travelling. I am pretty sure that I would be able to find some other way of generating income.
On the other hand, my job isn’t all too bad. It can be very stressful and tiring even though I net around $70,000 now after my raise and I am going to get another one in a few months. It also comes with a nice benefits package and pension plan. Sadly, I won’t be around for 25 years to collect that.
It is a good gig for now but I don’t believe that it would lead me to financial freedom within my timeline. Instead of working for the city, I would much rather prefer to start my own business and become my own boss. I plan on pursuing this in the near future.
Finding a Balance
I believe that a good job is one that promotes a healthy work-life balance. Unfortunately, my current job consumes my entire life and that leaves me wondering whether I could make better use of my time.
I would love to have more free time to work on becoming a better person but this is something I could not afford as of right now.
In the meantime, I will be proactively searching for other employment opportunities that meet this criteria, both inside and outside of my current employer whilst I work on my financial skills.
Do you find that your job is taking too much of your freedom away? I’d love to hear all about it!
Hi Jeff
The fact that you are spending time busy is a good sign. You are working hard to get your capital in the form of salary that will give you freedom someday. Awesome!!!
Do catch a break here and there and uae those times to travel. I think you will sense a different form of satisfaction which perhaps can prolong your corporate career longer and more sustainable.
Definitely B. Everyone needs a break from life every once in a while. Sort of hard to do when you have a commitment to your job though!
Jeff – you are only in your mid-20’s – far to young to be concerned with this stuff to this degree. How about this. Keep looking for your “perfect” or dream job in your spare time, but otherwise, just put your head down and work like crazy for the next 5 years or so. You are young, with no family, you make good money and you have the ability to save a considerable amount of money every year. If you do this for 5 years, you will have a large pot of capital to invest, which will put you well ahead of the curve as far as early retirement, job downsizing etc. Don’t throw away the opportunity to earn and save now – you will never have more time or energy. Yes, find a balance, that is key, but right now, you have nothing but time – use a lot of it to earn and a little of it to look for something better. If you find the golden goose, great…..if not you will have saved a sizeable chunk for investment for later when you do have family, you are more tired and you really do need to step away from the rat race.
Thank you for your words of wisdom Chris. It makes perfect sense to me. Work hard now and enjoy life later!
I totally agree. Time is my most important asset that I have. I see my bosses at my company who are VP of finance and CFO. Sure they did very well for themselves and have made tones of money however they in their late 50s and early 60s. I feel grateful that I am in my early 30s and getting close to retiring (or half retirement) everyday to truly enjoy the world by being financially independent. Time is the one that money can’t buy.
Indeed BSR, money can’t buy time. It must be awesome to be retiring soon, I look forward to reading about it on your blog!
Nice post!
I also dream of being unemployed and at how I wouldn’t mind that much if I “happen to become” so 🙂
Haha. That is exactly how i feel every day. 🙂