Time is the Most Valuable Currency in the World

When I speak to friends and family, I tell them this: if you tell me you make 10,000 dollars a month, the first question I ask is—how many hours do you have to work each day to make this money.

I will be 39 years in August. If someone even offers to pay me 100,000 dollars a month and in return, I am to work 12 hours for him or her, I wouldn’t be interested.

By generous calculation, I have about another 40 years or so left on this earth—and trading my time directly for money upsets the essence of my living.

After you’ve gotten all the monies, more than you need, then what?

I have seen someone who worked so hard and became filthy rich at 62 years—at that age, he was sick and frail. What’s the point? He couldn’t really do much with all the monies in his account—but to become a compulsory philanthropist (not that it is a bad thing to be a giver).

As I grow, I’ve become more interested in placing value on building relationships and experiencing life from my own perspective. I continue to take more life risks as I focus and enjoy the journey and give little attention to the end product.

The most important currency in life is indeed time. If someone gives you their time, they have given you more than any money is worth.

Live your life on the back of the truth that, the most important asset anyone has available to them is time.

I value my time more than anything else, including money. I get more upset when people who don’t deserve it steal a chunk of my time—compared to when people cunningly take money from me. I am smart enough to always make some money but no one can create added time to grant themselves more than the available.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man! Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

For the years ahead, cut off anyone who does not have time for you—and don’t give your time to the extent of forgetting its value. If someone doesn’t give you equal attention or their time, don’t waste yours on them.