June 13th, 2014
Imagine for a moment that you were a highly successful financial investor. You were always on the lookout for great opportunities that will give you a sizable return on your investment, better known as R.O.I. Let’s say that you were only interested in investing if you could make at least 20% or greater on your investment. Anything less than that and you wouldn’t walk away…you’d run away as quickly as possible. One of the greatest ways to become wealthy, is to spend less than you earn, then save and invest the remainder. The better R.O.I. you are able to create, the faster your money grows. The more money you can save, the greater amount you can invest. Combine a higher amount invested with a greater R.O.I. and soon you’ll begin to see the benefit of compound interest and eventually you become financially independent. Great thought isn’t it?
What’s worth more…time or money? I can guarantee you that if Bill Gates was on his death bed, he would give away his fortune to have another 10 years of life. Time is the one thing that makes us all equal. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Oprah Winfrey have as many hours in a day and days in a week as the rest of us. I say this to remind everyone of the true value of time.
Are you investing, spending or wasting time? Have you taken a good look lately at the various ways you could invest or spend your time? My encouragement is that you look at yourself as an investor and find as many ways possible to maximize your R.O.I. Simply take a look at your current rituals and habits to see if any of them may allow you to gain a better return on investment.
Do you invest enough time in you? Are you reading daily and investing time in self-development? Are you writing out your goals and reviewing them on a regular basis? Are you investing enough time into the relationships that can truly make a difference in your life? Are you planning out your days and weeks to focus on high value activities or do you find yourself living on Facebook? It’s so easy to waste time. Almost as easy as it is to waste money. The challenge is that suddenly a crisis arrives and there isn’t enough of either. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that they either have lots of time on their hands and no money to enjoy it…or, they have the money but no time to enjoy it. My recommendation is to design your life so you have both. That is you have time to enjoy the better things of life and can also afford them. How do you this you may ask?
The answer is pay yourself first… Almost every financial guru on the planet will tell you to pay yourself first. Meaning to have 10-20% of your income set aside for savings and investments before you have the chance to spend it elsewhere. I’m suggesting you do the same with time. Schedule an appointment with yourself every-day. Do this to plan, to think, to read, to train and to invest time in your most valuable growing asset=>YOU! If that means you have to watchless TV…aren’t you worth it? If that means you have to spendless time with a friend online or on the phone…aren’t you worth it? I’m not suggesting that you shut yourself off to the world for hours on end. I am suggesting that you schedule time for yourself every-day to allow yourself sufficient time to keep growing and improving in the areas that you want to accelerate your progress and growth. Too often, we allow the phone -or- instant messages -or- the demands of others to interfere and take over our lives. Not a good idea!
Maybe you need to get up a little earlier to fit everything into your day. Maybe you need to get to bed a little earlier so you can get up a little earlier. Maybe you just need to schedule an appointment with yourself, just like scheduling an appointment to get a haircut…and then respect yourself enough to keep the appointment.
My suggestion for you is simple…take a few minutes to see if you are getting the best ROI possible on the 24/7 gift you have been given. Become a highly successful investor of time and money…always look for ways and opportunities to gain the greatest return on your investment.