Time is NOT money

There’s a very popular adage in today’s society: “Time is money”. The idea that our time is somehow more valuable than money has been told to us over an over in media, education, and by our family. Obviously, on the outset it does seem true. Most of us, if not all of us, have some 9-to-5 obligation that provides us with the economic means to run our families. Even if you run a business or a hedge fund, you still trade time for money, although the earnings to time spent ratio is quite large. Just by observing everyone around us, it’s clear to us that there’s a direct correlation between time and money. X amount of time implies Y amount of money. But, is that really true?

Contrary to popular belief, I find that the reverse is true: That money is time. Money, either in its pure liquid form or vested in equities or commodities buys time for one to engage in luxuries. Again, it’s easy to think that luxuries imply a soul-searching vacation to the bahamas or a costly cruise journey to the carribean. However, that’s not always true. Thinking is the greatest luxury that one can afford. And money buys time to think. Me writing this medium article means that I have enough money to think for 10–15 minutes: whether that amount money is sufficient is for another time.

I would argue that this luxury of thought is what helped propel America and the west to a large extent to be economic powerhouses of the 20th century and still helping us thrive. Bored engineers and passionate journalists alike are busy thinking about the atrocities of corporate america while there are workers in Asian and African countries who don’t even have time to think about eating lunch. So, in the current state of affairs, we as a society talk about privilege in all sorts of ways — wealth, caste, race, and on and on and on … But, we miss the main privilege of them all: the privilege to think.

Unlike the other kinds of privileges, the power of thought does not only affect your current state of being, but will also affect your future state of being. Whether you innovate like Steve Jobs or debate politics like X [You can replace X with any politician you dislike], you need time to think. Especially in the current creator economy that we are in and the decentralized economy that we are moving toward, this will be more important than ever.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

PS: If you like my thoughts, hit that follow button.