What is your time worth to you right now? Harvey Mackay wrote “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.”
Is your time worth more or less now that we have experienced weeks of COVID-19 quarantine? Is this time more precious?
During my daily walks, I have been listening to Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk To Someone. One phrase in the book that really resonates with me is “you won’t get today back.”
Each of our days, no matter what month or year, is precious. Each is a time worth 24 hours. Recently, a lot of those hours have been at home as a result of shelter-in-place orders. People have been busy cleaning out closets, cupboards, garages, and basements. They have spent more time with their children, doing both school work and fun activities indoors and outside. Walks are no longer just exercise, and Zoom is now part of our work-from-home and social distancing lives.
So many individuals I have talked to are glad they could keep working from home. Throughout the quarantine, their work provided them with a sense of purpose, structure, and “life is normal.” This makes perfect sense if you are still working but the question remains: what is your time worth and are you using all of it wisely. This is even more important for those who are no longer working. Remember, “you won’t get today back.”
If you are approaching retirement or have been forced into early retirement by the current state of the economy, pay attention to what you are experiencing right now. Some questions to consider:
• How will you spend your time in retirement?
• How would you like to invest your time?
• What is the value of your time when it is no longer defined by a paycheck?
• What reflects what your time is really worth to you?