How you spend your time is how you spend your life

Many people are happy to think twice about how they spend their money but not how they spend their time. They are willing to trade time for money but won’t trade money to unlock more time for meaningful experiences.

When you put a value on time, your choices, habits, experiences and routines change. Your perception of time will determine what you do.

Time is money, but we rarely think deeply about that simple statement. You can’t make money without time. And you need money to save or make more time for even more experiences.

You can have all the time in the world, but what you want in life could take more time than you expect if you spend it on less valuable things.

“Time is free, but its priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” Harvey MacKay once said.

The currency of life is time

“How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives.” — Annie Dillard

Great scientists, high achievers, ultra-successful people and your icons in life have access to the same time you have, but many of them are getting 10x or even 100x return on their time.

We can’t get to their level of progress because we’ve made something else a priority. We all have different things to do with our finite time, but optimizing how you use your time today can unlock more time for the essential things in your life.

You may not have access to the same resources and connections super successful people have, but if you change your priorities and mindset about time, you could do more for your future self.

Where do you spend your time?

Stephen R. Covey was right. “The key is in not spending time but in investing it.”

Time needs value. If you don’t value your limited time, you will do anything to pass the time. You can make more progress in the same amount of time if you perceive it differently.

One of my most important aims has always been to get to a point where I can pay to get most of my time back in many areas of my life. That way, I can schedule meaningful experiences, activities and events that will bring out the best in me at all times. And pursue my intellectual curiosities.

If you can invest your time wisely today, tomorrow will be a lot more comfortable and better. Remember, “Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing,” says Miles Davis.

Time is and has always been finite

“Every second is of infinite value.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Your job is to make the most of the precious and free resource (time) you have today. When you put money to work, it leverages compound interest to make more money if you don’t interrupt the process unnecessarily.

If money is one of your biggest concerns right now, find a way to put it to work. “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” Warren Buffett said.

No matter how much you earn right now, find assets that can unlock more time for you in the future. When you think time is in unlimited supply, you won’t value it. You will go through life doing anything and everything that may not guarantee the life you want.

“Time and effort can get you anything you want in the world. But nothing in the world can get you more time,” says Matt Fox. So, choose your priorities carefully. Be mindful of how you use your time daily.

This article originally appeared in Medium.