Time is money.

Time is a currency given for free at the same amount to everyone (24 hours/day).

Some value it and others devalue it; make your time valuable; it will be profitable for you as others will give value to your time—something valuable increases its value over time, but something with low value depreciates over time (devaluation).

When you use your time appropriately, and efficiently in your life, it results in improvements for well-being, well-fare, and self-worth. You send an indication to others about the value you give to your time. Your time you use to become better in different aspects of your life, to do what is essential, is a clear indication of how you consider it as an opportunity cost—every minute of your life you consider it as an opportunity, to not miss to do something valuable for yourself. 

There is no selfishness in using your time adequately and profitability, because all of us have received the same amount of time every day. You must use your time to do what is best for you. This is where there is a challenge: what is the best for you in which you must invest your time?

A currency allows to facilitate exchange amongst countries. Within a country it is translated into money; the more your money loses its value, you need more of this money to pay for less (a bottle of water costs 1 million Zim dollars in Zimbabwe); thus, no one wants your currency outside of your country; it doesn't have any value. Poor economic management of a country creates the devaluation of your currency, as a result of inflation. When your time is not well managed, people will use your time for less, and you won't get a good return on investing your time. But the one who makes his time profitable, makes it costly to have his time—not everyone can afford a valuable good given its high price.

With your time, you can acquire knowledge, a skill, or a good, which sale of it can generate money from a salary, fees, or a proceeds from sale. This concept is well understood by Muslims, as it is haram (a forbidden deed) to be involved in something that doesn't give you a profit.

Getting the skill and knowledge required an amount of time to be spent—it takes 8 years to obtain a PhD—hours of research and brainstorming to provide a strategy consulting session to a business—it will take 1 month to freight a container from South Africa to Côte d'Ivoire.

All your time invested in something that is valuable for others, will generate a profit for you, and more when you perfect your service, resulting in customer satisfaction.

But, because time is associated with freedom, we all know this term when someone is sent to prison: "he is deprived of his freedom, so he has to spend time in jail"; the best use of your time must set you free, to dispose as you wish of it.

Financial freedom provides you with the financial means, to afford what you want, but not total freedom to dispose as you please of your own time.

One day, the owner of a company, while on holiday in Mauritius with his family, called up urgently for a meeting with some of his well-paid executives who had to fly to listen to him for some hours.

Those executives were also on holiday with their families but had to leave them for 3 days. No matter your top position and salary, your boss call will remind you that you are still an employee. You might have financial freedom but not the freedom of your own time because you have office hours not set by you, which can affect your family time and lifestyle. You are only sometimes free, only week-end, when you can spend quality time with your loved ones or during the week after office hours. Your time is limited and determined by someone else for his/her profit. You use your time to acquire skills and knowledge that are valuable for someone, in order to have financial freedom (high earning), but this person makes a profit with total freedom, to use your time as it pleases him. 

Everyone cannot be a wealthy businessperson, but everyone can be his/her own boss, called entrepreneurship, which is not an easy road but a "long walk to freedom." 

Freedom is when oneself decides what the best to do with his own time, and this time investment is profitable to oneself first, and sets your time as valuable for others. 

Achieving such, established self-worth and respect, resulting from the best use of your time. Isn't people want money to be valuable and respected in society ? That's why it said, "time is money".

NB: In our current society, money gives you respect and worth, no matter what you think, feel, and do.

 

Yusuf Monhaté