CHAPTER 1

SECTION 1

TIME IS MONEY

Doest thou love life? Then do not squandertime, for that is the stuff life is made of.

How do you spend your time? Despite the cliché, time is not really money.However, in some ways it helps to think of it as being very much like money: Youcan spend it wisely or foolishly. You have a finite amount of it. And it'slikely to slip away unnoticed if you're not careful.

Are you getting the best value from your time? Just as many goods are not worththe money spent on them, many daily activities are not worth the time spent onthem. While some may decide that a single-minded pursuit of money is the bestuse of their time, others will want to invest their time in other ways that theyfind valuable. To become aware of how you invest your time (or simply let itslip away), experiment with keeping a time and activity log.

Try this exercise: Keep a log in quarter-hour increments to see what you spendyour time on during a typical week. At the end of the week, categorize your timespent and add up the total amount of time for each category. How much time doyou spend commuting, attending meetings, or doing errands? How much time do youspend watching television, talking on the phone, or surfing the Internet? Howmuch time do you spend feeding your mind, sleeping, developing your talents,organizing, cleaning, preparing meals, or engaged in worthwhile activities withloved ones?

Most people are shocked and chagrined to see many hours they spend on certainunproductive activities, and how little they spend on ones that improvethemselves, their financial lives, and their connections with the people theylove. Using a time log may help you see how certain times of the day areconsistently productive while others are times when you are most likely to getdistracted and be unproductive.

Once you've got a clear list of your week's activities, take a good look at yourlog. Draw three columns next to your entries. In the first column, number theactivity from 1 to 10 to reflect how much or little that activity adds tomeeting your financial goals. In the second column, put a number that reflectshow much or little pleasure that activity adds to your life. Then compare thetwo columns. In an ideal life, the activities that support your financial goalswould also be ones that give you pleasure. At the very least, your timeexpenditure should have some kind of balance between things you love and thingsyou do to increase your financial freedom.

Finally, in your third column, keeping in mind what you've put in the first twocolumns, put a plus sign next to things you'd like to invest more time on, and aminus sign next to the things you'd like to spend less time on.

Have you inventoried a week's activities in your time log and found that littlelooks like something you want to put time into? Are you feeling "lazy" andincapable of spending your time usefully? Have you found that you don't "lovelife"? If so, then it's time for some self-reflection.

Are you burned out by your job? Finding your hobbies and home responsibilitiesless than satisfying? Feeling far removed from your dreams? Experiencingalienation in your relationships with people? If so, consider getting checkedout by a doctor, physically and psychologically. Common physical conditions (forexample, depression or hypothyroidism) can drag you down and make you feel tiredand despondent. Drug or alcohol abuse can manifest itself in a variety ofsneakily debilitating ways. Perhaps you need to talk with a counselor about somelongstanding issues with your work, relationships, sense of helplessness, and soon.

What we want to tell you is that it isn't hopeless. It is possible to changeyour life, do much of what you want to do, and stop doing much of what you don'twant to do. Yes, you may have to take some risks, take a leap, be willing tobalance the security of inertia against the risks of making changes. But it'sworth thinking about, clarifying, planning, preparing, and recruiting yourfriends, allies, and loved ones to offer support.

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Leisure is time for doing something useful; thisleisure the diligent man will obtain, but thelazy man never; so that a life of leisure and alife of laziness are two things.

Dare we say it? Doing work for yourself is not only good for your pocketbook,but it's good for your soul as well. True, you can pay somebody to prepare yourfood (either directly or indirectly by using convenience foods). You can paysomebody to do your yard chores, your cleaning, your car maintenance, and so on.You can pay somebody to prepare your taxes, carry your bags, paint and decorateyour home, and do the work at your place of business. You can even pay somebodyto raise your children, educate them, and teach them how to play sports.

You can do that, and sometimes it makes sense to do so, but let us suggest that,whenever you can, it's best to do it yourself.

You might add up the money you make per hour and compare it with the money you'dspend per hour on an outside worker and decide that since you make more moneyper hour than a yard worker, you'd be better off working the extra hours at yourown job, hiring a lower-paid worker, and pocketing the difference.

This might be a completely rational decision. However, it also may be a falseeconomy. For example, if your work is one where you sit all day, working outsidein the yard pushing a mower (preferably manual, not a gas guzzler) will be greatfor your health and may save you the cost of a health club membership (or atriple bypass). If your job is complicated and filled with stress, you may findmeditative solace in painting, digging, sewing patches on jeans, washing dishes,organizing drawers, or building shelves. And kids? No matter what other jobs youhave, you may find that genuinely connecting with kids can be the most rewardingof all.

Frankly, most people have to have down time from their normal labors. What youdo with that downtime—use it or waste it—is the difference between leisure andlaziness.

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Plough deep, while sluggards sleep, andyou shall have corn to sell and to keep.

How much of your budget do you spend on food? For most Americans food is thethird biggest item, taking up about 14 percent of their total income.

Consider becoming a "weekend farmer"—a vegetable gardener. During World War II,Victory Gardens were all the rage. To support the war effort, the governmentsent out booklets with instructions on how every family could start their...