Time, energy, attention—these are the fundamental building blocks of what a life is composed of.
With what you’ve been given, you can either choose to spend, save, or invest these blocks—just as it is with money.
When you spend time, energy, or attention—it’s gone. Like when you watch a show on TV. There’s no return of more time, energy, or attention—it’s just used.
When you save time, energy, or attention—you increase what little you had to a little more. Like when you hire a professional to do a professional service. The time it took you to get the money to pay the professional is far less than the time it would have taken you to do the job yourself—so you pay them. Resources saved.
When you invest time, energy, or attention—you stand to multiply what little you had into much more. Like when you learn new skills and/or gain new knowledge. Not only do you no longer need to hire someone for their skills or knowledge, but you no longer need to hire them for the rest of your life. The return is exponential.
A good exercise to spend some time on:
- Write down each task of your day.
- Label each task as being either a spending, saving, or investing of time/ energy/ attention.
- Think about how you might save and add more investments to your day.