In this episode of the Merkol Podcast, we analyzed the famous Jim Rohn Motivation Quote, which goes:
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time”
Jim Rohn
In this post you will find
Why is Time more valuable than money and the concept of a time billionaire?
Many people don’t give time the respect it deserves. They take it for granted and most of us lament lost time in hindsight. Let me introduce you to a concept that will change your perception of how you view your time. Welcome to the concept of a ‘time billionaire’. Let me try my best to explain it:
Name any billionaire above the age of 70 who is alive at the time of writing this article – Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, David Rockefeller Jr, Alice Walton, etc.
if you are in your 20s, how many of you would trade your lives with the life of people similar to the ones I have mentioned above?
I guess most of you said yes to the trade.
It will be interesting to see your reaction to this, but would you agree if I said that all of the above-mentioned people would trade all the money they have for your youth? I haven’t had a chance to ask them this, but I am pretty sure the answer would be yes.
This is the concept of a time billionaire.
Time X Money:
Look at another scenario, a million seconds is 11 days but a billion seconds is close to 31 years. How many ever billions you have, you cannot get back the 31 years of your life.
So if someone offers you the above trade think how much valuable your time is and cherish it.
For example, imagine someone offers me truckloads of money for 5 years of my life. I am 26 years old at the time of writing this article and I will be 31 by the time I return back to my life. In those five years, there is a possibility I would have met the girl of my dreams, gotten married, even had my first child. I would also be giving up my most important years in terms of risk-taking because currently I have nothing to lose and I will go all-in on stuff I understand and believe have potential in the future. At 31, I will be more cautious in my approach. My parents are pretty old, and I might have missed the chance to be with them in their final days, months, even years.
I could go on and on about this, but imagine what missing 5 years of your life would mean to you. Is missing all the things I have mentioned above worth any shit ton of money? My answer is no.
Time Billionaires: Power of time
Many people downplay this, but more often than not, the difference between you winning and losing is how long you have managed to stay in the game. This applies to all walks of life.
We all know the power of compounding. In compounding, 90% of how the result pans out depends on the amount of time you will be invested in what you are doing.
If you want to start a successful podcast, if you put out 5 podcast episodes then you are already in the top 10% of creators. Most people don’t go past the third episode with nearly 50% of starters dropping out after just 1 episode. There is an amazing article on how time spent on the craft is the biggest reason for success.
Warren Buffett earned more than 90% of his wealth after he turned 60 years. He started investing at a very young age, around 10 years, and managed to invest timely into businesses he liked and understood. He was and is still in the market allowing his investments to compound to many multitudes of multiples of his initial investment.
Having time on our side will always be important in any walk of life.
What to spend time on?
Well, this is for you to decide. You need to figure out first what is important to you. In the movie About time, the lead character can travel back to a specific point in time and alter the chain of events. People can use this for many things, but the actor chose to pursue love, care and family, because those were more important to him.
Similarly, figure out what keeps you going and invest your time in it.
The more time you spend on something, the better you are going to get at it.
The more time you spend with your girlfriend or love interest even when it is a long-distance relationship will help strengthen the bond between you both. More time spent on writing, the more you will become a better writer with each passing day.
Here is an amazing Jim Rohn motivational speech:
So, always remember, time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.
Closing:
As we discussed earlier, if time plays a vital reason in determining if you become rich or not, then why are you spending time chasing money? Invest all the billions of seconds that god has given you into something you truly love and that something will definitely take care of you and help you lead a good meaningful and purposeful life.
Hope you enjoyed this article. If you did not agree with what I have mentioned or if you have anything extra to add to this article then please do share it in the comments section of this article. Let’s learn together.
Podcast:
I have recorded a podcast on the same quote. But it is in Tamil. If you know the language then please do listen to this. Do let me know if you like it. Here is the link:
