It's our most precious commodity, yet we sell our time constantly -- at different prices to different consumers.

It's easy to predict the time value of money. Pick up a net present value table, and you can see how inflation eats away at today’s dollar. What's harder to value, though we do it every moment, is the ultimate trade - one that can never be hedged -- that is the money value of time.

Time is the most precious commodity available to man. Each moment cannot be bought back at any price. And yet we sell our time constantly, at different prices to different consumers -- sometimes even giving it away! So while your boss finds it easy to price your workday in his or her dollars, only you can define your time’s pure value, and you do so with each choice you make.

It's a final trade, your time. That's why, for the short bit I have left, I'm long on efficiency. In this ever accelerating world, the future winners will be those who profit by selling us back our time. And oh will we buy… Even the mere perception of efficient time management cannot be refused by those who worship every moment.

Seventy years ago F.D.R. said, "Never have we had so little time in which to do so much." Fortunately as man gets busier, we will continue to invent ways to adapt.

Generation Xers are the first to really harness efficiency aids to their advantage. That legalized-stimulant the grande latte makes them work faster, the internet provides one stop shopping for everything, take-out lunches and laundry delivery save them several hours per week, lasers eliminate shaving, and they have unusually strong thumbs from extreme Blackberry use caused by a need for productivity. When they do go out to a sit-down restaurant they order…you know…something quick.

In an effort to do it all, they have evolved into masters of their own time, and they happily pay extra. They let online travel services pick their hotels, and personal shoppers pick their wardrobe - proving that service companies can now do everything including think for you. What they can't do, fortunately, is enjoy your life for you. You may "buy time," but you don't pay the same price you would if you actually had more of it.

For all you traders chained to your screens until that unassigned day somewhere in the future when you retire, consider this: you will never have enough time, so like money, you should be sure to spend what you have wisely. And if you’re not enjoying your time right now, you might be missing the most valuable part -- at least according to the depreciation tables -- because whenever money is traded for time, only you can make it a winning trade.

© July 21, 2006 Heather Flick

Heather Flick

8/13/06