Time is a human being’s most valuable resource. We might claim things like food, water, shelter and money are valuable, but those things only go up in value when there’s a limited supply of them.
If you owned a classic car, it may very well go up in value over time, provided it’s been kept in mint condition. But what if that car was a limited edition and there were only twenty of them in existence? You can bet your bottom dollar that car would be worth a small fortune. That’s because the thing we’re talking about is scarce.
The one resource that runs out
There is so much food, water and money in the world that their value is nowhere near as high as something truly limited. Take time, for example. We’re all given a certain amount of time to live, and we’re all given 24 hours a day to make the most of it. Time is a non-renewable resource with a finite supply. Eventually, it will run out.
Time has a price, too. People pay me for my time – I’m offering them a service, and they pay me to spend that time with them. Time can also be bought back. At my studio, for each trainer I hire I essentially gain back 30–35 hours a week. With those extra hours I can choose to do whatever I like. I can squander them on hedonistic, dopamine-chasing activities, or I can invest them in improving myself somehow.
Time can be poorly used. A good example is choosing to watch TV rather than reading something educational, or sleeping in another hour and skipping that gym class. These behaviours, although a lot easier, are by no means serving our goals.
If your goal is simply to use your time to reduce stress or spend more of it with your wife and kids, then it was a smart investment. If, however, you made the investment and did nothing with the time you gained, it was a waste.
When we’re fully aware of how limited our time is, it can cause a kind of fear and desperation as we try to hold on to as much of it as possible. We convince ourselves we don’t have much of it, when really we do – we just haven’t found it yet.
“I don’t have the time”
One of the biggest excuses I hear for not starting a new training program is: I don’t have the time. Really? You have 24 hours in a day, 168 in a week, and you can’t commit just one or two of them to some exercise?
It seems pretty far-fetched, and sometimes I wonder what sort of crazy lifestyle a person must have not to find the time. World leaders running entire nations still find the time to exercise. Remember John Howard? He was famous for his morning power walks in his tracksuit.
If you’re clever with your time and how you delegate your day-to-day duties, you can make the time:
- If you work late nights, get up earlier in the morning.
- If you need to look after the kids, ask your spouse to cover for an hour, or book a nanny or babysitter.
- If you come home from work and still feel like you need to be working, learn to switch your phone off for an hour. Those calls can wait.
Make it a priority
When it all boils down to it, it’s about making exercise a priority. If you can prioritise eating dinner each night, brushing your teeth and sleeping, why can’t you prioritise exercise and simply add it to your schedule?
Time on the barbells or the treadmill is not wasted time. It’s time well spent.
It’s an investment in your physical and mental health. In the long run, you’re buying time back. If being fit and healthy helps you fight off disease and live longer, then well done – you’ve just bought yourself more time.
