On Time and Money, and which comes first.

Carpe Diem - Seize the Day

Over the past six months or so, I have come to understand the unquestionable truth behind the phrase ‘time is money.’  Before, I used to dismiss it as the usual teacher-blabber, narrated to entice disinterested students into paying some attention to academia. But now, after a bit of serious bed-time reflection, I have seen the proverbial light - time is money, and anyone who disagrees with me is either the proud owner of a time machine or a legit dollar-bill printing press. Period.

The usual way to frame this next fact would be ‘I am studying in the second year of junior college along with playing sports, sleeping, eating and doing regular eighteen-year-old-guy stuff.’ The way I’m going to frame it is ‘I am sleeping. In between naps, I attend classes, eat, play sports and do regular eighteen-year-old-guy stuff.’ Do you want to know why I framed it the way I did? I bet you do. I’m sorry but you’re going to have to keep reading in order to find out.

In Inception, Leonardo Di Caprio is asked, “Do you want to take a leap of faith, or become an old man, filled with regrets, waiting to die alone?” But the question I ask is – does life always offer us the opportunity to take that proverbial leap of faith? Or are we just passengers, in the economy class of a crowded flight between Birth and Death?

The answer is quite simple, really. It all depends on whether you take control of Time or let Time take control of you. Much too often, we hear people cry – time flies! Oh, how time flies! It is said by everyone – from two socialite women at a party, kissing the air near one another’s cheeks while secretly checking to see how many wrinkles they can spot on their friend’s face, to a long-lost cousin perhaps, disappointed to see that the person he once knew no longer exists, or even a doting mother, pleased that her child no longer requires to be fed, cleaned and so on. But time doesn’t fly. Oh no, it doesn’t. Time moves at its regular pace, tick tick tick. The problem with most of us is – we have no clue how to use this passing time.

The money bit of it, unfortunately, is not quite that straightforward. Time is Money would suggest that if we misuse our time, we will suffer some naturally occurring monetary loss. Does this mean that we should create neat time tables right down to every bathroom break and live like a machine? Certainly not. And I don’t even need to illustrate examples from the lives of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and other monetary legends to disprove any wisdom in doing so. The wisest thing to do is to wake up each morning and declare, “Today will count. Today, I will do something worthwhile that I would like to remember for years to come.” Yes, every day. So that maybe once in a while it might actually happen. This is precisely why I mentioned slumber as my primary occupation. In an attempt at creating order and routine in my life, I have been unable to seize each day individually resulting in most days being frighteningly similar to their neighbours. The solution: Latin poetry’s most famous son Carpe Diem and don’t you just know it!  

How do we correlate these two giants of our lives – Time and Money? The more time you have on your hands the more chances you have of earning good money, right? So when time exists, money is what one tries to obtain. Yet, once the money starts flowing in, time automatically becomes a matter of great concern. So the existence of once creates a desire for the other. This paradox has caused even the greatest thinkers of the human race to tug at their whiskers for hours on end and it will continue to do so. In the meanwhile, regular folk like you and I need to create a balance between the desire for the latter and the optimal use of the former. Let neither the clock nor the coin dictate your life. Let these words inspire you to grab every tomorrow by the scruff of its neck, make tomorrow your abiding slave, let it dance to your every tune and so on and so forth with the metaphors. Time really is money and neither comes before the other. Forgive me now, for I must go back to sleep.