"Time is money."
We've all heard that expression a million times. And these days, I sometimes hear people suggest that time is actually more valuable than money.
I can see their point. After all, I can always earn more money. But I can't earn more time.
Still, I think there's another way to look at the idea of time as currency – one we sometimes overlook.
We don't just spend money. We can also invest it.
Now, I'm no financial advisor, but I know there's a difference.
When I spend money, I'm usually getting something in return right away — groceries, a new pair of shoes, dinner out. (Some purchases are definitely more exciting than others.)
When I invest money, I'm putting it toward something I hope will pay off down the road. It might take a while, and there's no guarantee of a return.
But I'm willing to make that investment because I believe the potential payoff is worth it.
So here's a question I've been asking people to consider as they look at their calendars:
Where are you spending your time, and where are you investing it?
The ROI of Time
One of the concepts I teach in my productivity workshops is what I call the planning paradox.
When we're eager to get something done, taking time to plan can feel like an unnecessary delay. We want to jump in, get moving, and start checking things off the list.
(I happen to be quite fond of checking things off lists, so I understand the temptation.)
But investing a little time on the front end of a project can save us a whole lot of time — and frustration — later.
We can avoid unnecessary detours, duplicated effort, and the dreaded realization that we've spent three hours doing something we'll now have to do over.
The time we invested in planning pays dividends.
And the same principle applies to leadership.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard a manager say, "It's just faster to do it myself."
And sometimes it is!
Teaching someone else to handle a responsibility takes time. It requires explanation, patience, feedback, and probably a few mistakes along the way.
But that investment can pay off in ways that go well beyond getting a task off the manager's plate.
The employee develops new skills and confidence. The manager gains capacity to focus on other responsibilities. And the whole team becomes a little stronger.
Not a bad return on investment.
But What’s the Real Return?
Here's where I've been thinking about this analogy a little differently lately.
When we invest money, our ultimate goal usually isn't simply to have more money.
We want what that money can make possible — security, freedom, opportunities, experiences, or the ability to be generous with others.
Money is a means to something more.
I think the same is true of time.
We don’t just want “more time.” We want what those hours would make possible.
And sometimes, the return on our investment has nothing to do with gaining additional minutes or hours.
Consider something as ordinary as taking my mom to a doctor's appointment.
I can think of that as an errand — something that needs to be done, another item on the calendar.
And it is.
But I can also see it as an investment in our relationship. Maybe I give a little more attention to our conversation during the drive. Maybe we stop for coffee afterward.
I haven't necessarily saved any time. In fact, I might have spent more.
But maybe we've enjoyed each other's company, shared a laugh, or created a memory.
The return isn't more time. It's what happened during the time we shared.
Sometimes the return on our investment of time isn't something we can measure. But that doesn't make it any less valuable.
Or any less risky.
The Risk Is Real
When we invest money, there's always a chance we won't get the return we're hoping for. We might even lose some of what we invested.
The same is true when we invest time.
The project we carefully plan might not succeed. The person we spend hours developing might leave for another opportunity. The relationship we nurture might not grow in the way we'd hoped.
That doesn't necessarily mean the investment was a mistake.
It simply means that choosing to invest something valuable doesn't guarantee a particular outcome.
A Question Worth Investing In
Of course, I don't think we need to evaluate every minute of our lives as though we're managing an investment portfolio.
Sometimes I want to spend an afternoon reading a novel, watching a movie, or doing something simply because I enjoy it. And that's reason enough.
But I do think there's value in occasionally looking at how we're using our time through a different lens.
Maybe we'll recognize that something we've been treating as an obligation is actually an opportunity to invest in a relationship.
Maybe we'll decide that spending a little extra time planning, learning, or developing someone else is worth the potential payoff.
Or maybe we'll realize that something we've been giving our time to isn't worth what it's costing us.
It's not that investing time is always better than spending it. It's that asking the question can help us make a more thoughtful choice.
And with the holidays approaching and our calendars beginning to fill up, I suspect we'll have plenty of opportunities to make those choices.
So the next time I'm deciding how to use my time — or wondering whether something deserves more of it — I might ask myself:
Am I spending my time, or am I investing it?
And perhaps just as importantly...
Is it worth it?
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