Sunday Firesides: You Don’t Have the Time, Not to Take the Time

We often talk about time in economic terms. We speak about what we choose to pay attention to and how we spend our time.

When we look at our budget of time, and decide we don’t have enough of it to do X activity, we think we are prudent, frugal managers of our minutes, hours, and days.

But, in many cases, we are actually terrible spendthrifts.

What we fail to realize, is that all the goods in our lives are provided to us on loan. If we fail to pay down these loans, the interest on them steadily accrues — and they can come to avenge themselves upon us a hundredfold. 

If you don’t have time to do a thorough quality check of your new product . . . how will you have time to deal with the angry customers, returns, and PR damage that follows its recall?

If you’ve got too much to do to engage in the kind of socializing that keeps your depression at bay . . . just how much will you be able to get done when you can’t get out of bed in the morning?

If you’re too behind at work to exercise each day . . . how will you dig yourself out of the hole created when you’re laid up in the hospital from a heart attack?

If you can’t fit date nights and Mom-and-Dad-only trips into your schedule . . . how will you fit in sessions of marriage counseling . . . the emotion-wrecking, bandwidth-sucking fallout of separation . . . meetings with a divorce lawyer?

You may think you don’t have enough time in the present to invest in life’s vital relationships and activities. But, flip a few pages forward in that ledger and check the numbers again; for there isn’t enough time in the world to deal with the regret you’ll experience when your debts are finally called in.

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