Time is money, they say. But if we know anything about economics we can easily determine that money is nearly infinite (just ask Jeff Bezos), while time stops very definitely when you take your last breath.
Since time then is clearly more scarce than money, why is it that people don't say money is time?
According to Ashley Whillans, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School,
"We’re indoctrinated with this idea that money and productivity are the path to greater happiness and success. My data speaks to the fact that this is not necessarily the best way by which to measure the satisfaction, productivity, and meaningfulness of your life."
Perhaps it takes an expat perspective, but it is easy to see how first-world countries are transactionally driven to an excessive degree.
This is most obvious when, here in Bali, I have something broken and hire a local repairman (I haven't met a repairwoman yet in Bali but someday I hope to). First the repairman drives over to take a look at the situation. This is due to the fact that he has a scooter and not a fully loaded repair truck like in a first-world country. Second, he then goes back to his home workshop and grabs the necessary tools. Then he comes back with the parts (requiring a third stop) and most likely brings a friend to help install or fix the broken item. Perhaps 2 hours are invested before the work begins. The work itself may take 30 minutes. The total price of the labor might be $7 - $12 unless it's a highly specialized job. This is because the average wage per day is about $10 in Indonesia. So 2-3 hours for the same money is actually a good deal.
The thoughts that were going through my head when I initially moved to Bali were, "Why aren’t you valuing your time?" I was so used to service people charging by the hour, or even by the 1/2 hour. But now I'm in a developing country and it requires a major re-orientation.
Photo: Kite flying contest in Bali. Talk about making the most of your time. What a fun spectacle!
Expectations
One of the ways the indoctrination of measuring and valuing money over time is reinforced is by the rise of one's expectations in relation to what other people have.
"Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is worth a billion dollars. But he told The Financial Times earlier this year that he considers himself well-to-do, not rich. “I can’t even say ‘rich’,” he said. “I don’t feel that way.”
Consider a few points:
- Blankfein is not even among the 10 richest people in his own apartment building.
- The Bloomberg list of global billionaires stops counting anyone worth less than $4.6 billion. A mere $4.2 billion – four Lloyds – is now socially unmentionable."
Getting time-smart
Imagine a bugeting app but for your time. I use a money budgeting app in order to keep on top of my expenses, because I'm on a fixed income. But I can envision an app that calculated one's total free time each day. Unlike the mindset of productivity, you actually want to have time devoted to activities such as:
- reinforcing friendships and carving out family time
- learning a new hobby
- making mistakes
- doing nothing
- playing
- reading, writing, painting, sculpting, dancing or contemplating the universe
- taking walks and smelling the roses
- etc
If you can budget for freeing your time you will surely increase your happiness.
According to Author Brooks, we have had significant increases in income in the USA over the past few decades, larger homes (by over 1,000 sq feet), more spending at restaurants, etc. "Federal spending on education, training, employment, and social services increased from 2000 to 2019 by about 30 percent in inflation-adjusted terms." By any measure, up until 2019 American society (even with accounting for income inequalities) has been curving upward both monetarily and service-wise.
Given the above, isn't it strange to be confronted with the fact that happiness is declining?
"The General Social Survey, which has been measuring social trends among Americans every one or two years since 1972, shows a long-term, gradual decline in happiness—and rise in unhappiness—from 1988 to the present."
What has happened to the extra 1,000 sq feet of happiness space in your homes? We've learned to eat up time by becoming better consumers, filling up each room and especially the garage with more and more... stuff.
What starts as a potentially "time-saving" purchase — for example, the sandwich maker that heats the bread better than your frying pan. And not only that, they're no longer sandwiches, they're paninis! I had a panini maker and plenty of other kitchen gadgets until I had my estate sale and sold everything but 2 pieces of luggage before moving to Bali.
Love people; use things
The most famous study on happiness followed students who graduated from Harvard from 1939 to 1944 throughout their lives, into their 90s.
The bottom line is "subjects who reported having the happiest lives were those with strong family ties, close friendships, and rich romantic lives. The subjects who were most depressed and lonely late in life—not to mention more likely to be suffering from dementia, alcoholism, or other health problems—were the ones who had neglected their close relationships."
Your time budget
Perhaps a better way to frame the "money is time" concept is to stop yourself whenever you are feeling a bit time crunched and concede that when you're feeling this way, when you're pressed for time, you are losing money. Time of course is not actual money, but in fact far more precious — diamond-studded bookends with your life sandwiched in-between. You can't retrieve lost time but you can conceivably re-earn money that you've lost.
The indoctrination has to be broken, one realization at a time. Waking up each morning with no schedule used to be reserved for the leisure class. Re-framing your expectations to see that a modest lifestyle can equate to vast riches — of TIME — happiness inducing and downright luxurious. By luxurious I don't mean things, I mean people-watching at your favorite cafe, strolling a city garden, reading a favorite book in the breezy, tropical shade, meandering in and out of bakeries (yes you can visit more than one per day!), etc. You get the ticktock, ticktock, ticktock idea.
Photo: Sunset in southern Bali
If you want to buy something, buy time. And make it the biggest purchase of your life.
Later,
Neill
I again very much enjoyed reading your story !
Very well-written piece.