Time Profit
November 2, 2024
While I was recording this week’s Financial Momentum podcast episode about live events (click here to listen), an idea popped into my head. It was the idea of Time Profit. What in the world is Time Profit?
The definition of profit is simple. The simplest definition is from the Merriam-Webster dictionary – Profit: A valuable return.
A Biblical definition is: Profitable means that it is valuable and beneficial for us.
I used it in reference to live events. Is there a Time Profit in attending live events? Is the time spent valuable and beneficial for us? I would say yes. Expanding on that idea, what in our lives gives us a Time Profit? And since Time Profit exists is there such a thing as Time Deficit? Absolutely yes! Sadly, I have spent most of my life in Time Deficit. In other words, spending time doing things that either do not move me forward in any way or actually move me backward.
How Much Time
Think about your life. How much time have you spent in a Time Deficit? That’s one of those life changing questions that causes you to reflect on how you have spent your life. Time is not one of those places you want to engage in deficit spending. Time seems to pass a lot more quickly as you get older.
Your life is like a giant ball of yarn. The day you are born it starts to unwind. When you are young the ball is huge and you seem to have all the time in the world to waste. But as you get older and the ball gets smaller it starts to unwind faster.
So is your time profitable? Do you spend time on things that are valuable and beneficial to you? This is making me think about activities like time spent on social media, YouTube, TV, writing newsletters and recording podcasts. And let’s not forget taking courses, reading books, and spending time with family and friends.
I know as entrepreneurs we need to spend time doing all those things to market our business, make sales, and move our business forward. And to keep learning and growing. But when we are honest with ourselves, how much of that time is actually spent drifting around consuming and not contributing?
There is a need for some of that. We need to relax our minds and let it take a break occasionally. Unfortunately I have too often allowed my 10 minute break to turn into an hour of wasted time. Humans tend to start off in activities that produce Time Profit but we very easily drift into Time Deficit. My hope is that maybe someone will read this article and increase their awareness of Time Profit and Time Deficit. Awareness is the key to using this idea to create a more productive life.
This is something that took me decades of living, failing, and succeeding, to figure out. If only it had become a priority to me much sooner. I will likely talk more about this topic in the future as I dive deeper into it. If you have comments or ideas on this topic just reply to this email and let me know.
In the meantime here are a couple of action steps:
1. Try to increase your awareness of drifting into a Time Deficit. I actually went so far as to set alarms on my phone every hour during the day that display the message “Focus”. It has helped me improve.
2. When planning your day think about which activities will give you the most Time Profit. Arrange your day accordingly.
Thanks for reading!