...on breaking even!

My dearest readers,

after recently returning from the east of Turkey and learning, how different and, thus, relative worlds within ours can be, I was quite stunned and feel the need to comprehend, how in the midst of our rising rush there could all of a sudden elsewhere be a lack of urgency and, seemingly, the dearth of our “higher, faster, further.” But there had been something that appeared to be of the same value, a universal currency we all treasure as a most valuable asset: time.

“Time is money!” tells you every proper businessman, when you engage him a minute longer than necessary. I have further heard many speak of “buying themselves some time” and even caught myself quite often doing that. But if time is so valuable, why do so many people tend to waste it? Benjamin Franklin once said that “[l]ost time is never found again,” and it appears that many are no longer aware that tempus fugit and are squandering their time like contemporary prodigal sons. Shouldn’t we all be provident and considerate with our time?

After writing so much about owning the moment, a future of gold, and how the present determines our future, it was just about time to actually write about time, so none of it be wasted. Time is a token that well spent brings wealth, but wasted is buried deep in the quicksand of our rising rush—and lost forever. Time is like an investment, which well placed pays dividends, but poorly spent makes one eligible for bankruptcy. We can see time, therefore, as our universal currency, seed capital we’re all given, but capital to depreciate in value with every tick and tock until our time runs out and we break even. We will, at some point, all break even; but, until then, make sure you handle your time like money, don’t make it rain, but spend it wisely.

When you spend your time—whether wisely or perhaps not optimally—note that not all time spent is time lost. “[T]ime you enjoy wasting is not wasted time” (Marthe Troly-Curtin), which is something to bear in mind, because then the time you consider wasted bears a surplus value that makes it anything but wasted. We tend to get upset, whenever things are not working out right and we think our time is wasted, but often there is a surplus value hiding in it that we get to see only in the future. At times, there may be years or even decades between time spent and realizing the surplus value in it, but neither has the trained eye trouble seeing it, nor has the provident and considerate soul the urge to ‘waste’ time in the first place. We are given the time, our currency, to spend it wisely, and we are all given enough time to do great.

Sol Bloom once stated: “Being broke didn't disturb me in the least. I had started with nothing, and if I now found myself with nothing, I was at least even. Actually, I was much better than even: I had had a wonderful time.” And is not that what we all shall seek? Is not time of true value? What greater gift is there for our loved ones than time, our time, your time, time you’re willing to spend for them? Think about it, as I leave those questions out there for you to answer. Tick, it’s time, tock, it’s time to go out there, into the world and do great, treasure our time and spend it wisely, so once we break even we can all proudly say that we’ve had indeed what we all deserve: a wonderful time.