The Value of Time
Yesterday, while mentoring a young entrepreneur who was struggling with the current lockdown status, I said to him, “The most valuable thing is time; you have never had so much time, so you have never been more valuable”. Thankfully, this hit home - but not just for him, but for me as well. I spent the afternoon thinking about this idea and, late afternoon, I posted it on a couple of my social networks. On the whole, I think it resonated and motivated some people, which of course is a delight, but I did get a couple of messages disagreeing with me and putting forward an alternative argument. So, I decided to think it through via a blog.
Their argument, which I think warrants consideration, is that because we are no longer ‘time poor’ the value of time has decreased, because the demand for people’s time has decreased.
I think they are mistaken and here’s my reasoning. Not all minutes are equal and, if you’re only desire in the lockdown period is to join the ‘Netflix Nation’, then maybe you’re not going to increase your value - unless you set up a vlog as a TV critic? Yet, I believe that during this time, ideas, concepts, plans and then businesses will form. We will come to talk about these businesses in the coming years.
At this time, it’s important to remember that Facebook is only 193 months old. Consider that Ed Sheeran wrote Photograph in less than 10 minutes. What that says to me, and because I have an infinite mindset (see Simon Sinek), I believe that I, like many others will come out of this period, more valuable both as a person and as a business. Like it or not, we are all seeing the world through a different lens and we are all thinking more about what we see. Understand that our world view is core to every aspect of our life and central to that, is time.
Without time, we often make snap judgements. We ask people to skip to the conclusion or follow other people’s opinions, because we don’t have time to question or formulate more considered opinions ourselves. Now we have time to consider and to formulate for ourselves. We have time to listen and think before we talk – that, in itself, makes us more valuable. We no longer need to be sheep following the loudest voice.
The hardships that many are facing right now have, quite rightly, been well documented and should never be underestimated by the positive spin or silver linings I - or anyone else - seeks to put or find in this situation. Watching their stories and the outstanding response to this crisis allows us remember the values most of us hold and how our own behaviour is reflecting these values.
I thank the two people that questioned my quote – I’m glad you did as it made me question my belief. After further thought, and through writing this blog, I’m sticking to it. We have got more time than ever – while an economist might say it’s less valuable, each unit of time is actually just as valuable as it ever has been. With each unit of time we can achieve so much and we now have more units than ever…
Use them.