Time Billionaires
You’re probably richer than Warren Buffett.
This is how the average American spends their life.
26 years sleeping. 7 more years trying to fall asleep. 13 years working. 8.3 years watching TV. 4.5 years eating and 4.3 years doing chores. 3 years on social media and another 3 years commuting. 1.8 years grooming. And 1.3 years exercising.
Warren Buffett is worth >$100B.
But if we had an opportunity to trade places with Warren, most of us would respectfully decline.
Warren may be a billionaire, but he’s also 91 years old. Warren is running short on time.
When it comes to time, you’re likely richer than Warren. Congratulations.
And if you’re under 47, you’re likely a time billionaire.
Every year includes 31,536,000 seconds.
31.7 years gets across the 1B mark.
The average American lifespan is 79 years.
If you’re <47 years old, you likely have 1B seconds left.
And if you’re in your 20s, you might even be a multi-billionaire.
You’re rich.
But so what?
All of us have the same amount of time each day. After work, chores, sleep, eating, etc. just 8.6% of our life is left for discretionary spending.
How are we going to spend it?
Here are a few helpful visualizations from Tim Urban.
When we’re young, it can feel like those little squares are endless.
Some weeks are tough. They drag on endlessly. But the charts above make it obvious our time is finite. Sooner or later, one of those little squares is our last.
How many of those blocks are we willing to trade for more $? How many do we fill with obligations and projects that suck the life out of us because they run crosswise to the grain of our soul?
Here are three measures of wealth: health, money, and time.
Health is foundational. Without it, other measures of wealth fade.
Money is helpful. Having money solves money problems, and there’s no shortage of money problems.
But too many of us who are lucky enough to have decent health and a little bit of money feel rushed. There’s never enough time. It’s a common trap to fill our calendars with meetings and projects. Some of which are important. Many that, if we thought about it… aren’t.
We get caught up in the thick of thin things.
Having bandwidth to be present, reflect, prioritize, and truly choose how to spend our time. So we can focus on projects and people that align with our values and goals. And on tasks that are important, but not urgent.
That’s rare.
The ultimate status symbol is free time. How will we spend ours?
