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The book “The Richest Man in Babylon” stresses the importance of paying yourself first. Instead of paying people who supply you goods and services, you pay yourself first, putting aside 10% of your income. This forced saving idea has been covered in many other books and by many financial gurus since. Taking into account the importance of exponential growth, this concept alone can make you financially independent.
Money is a precious resource and building your financial reserves and freedom is very important. There is another resource, just as precious as money: your time. Time may even be more important than money. Money comes and goes, whereas when time is gone, there is no way of bringing it back.
Let’s apply the idea of paying yourself to this precious resource. How do you spend your time? Who do you give it to? What activities gobble up your time? How many things are waiting for you to allocate some time to them? So many of us are time poor, in a hurry to get the results and successes. We chase “instant success” and “quick fixes”. Why? Because, we do not have time. We waste it away by giving it to those who matter less than ourselves.
What would you do if you had some extra time? Take a moment to think. What would you do? Would you study more? Would you analyse markets more? Would you rest more? Would you trade more? Would you take stock of where you are more? Would you make more rational decisions about your trading and your life?
What if you applied the same tried and tested principle of paying yourself first to your time? Let us do a simple calculation. You have twenty-four hours. Eight are taken with sleep, another hour for your three meals, and maybe one more for your daily chores. That leaves fourteen hours. Let’s say you pay yourself first, 10% of your time. That means about one hour and twenty-five minutes. The important thing is you pay yourself first. Just like the money side of things, if you leave yourself as the last one to be paid, there will not be any money left for you and there will not be any time left for you. Pay yourself first.
I can hear the objections. They are no different than objections about paying yourself first with your earnings. One or two days are not long enough to create a habit. Do it regularly, say for a month. Then decide if it is worth doing or not.
What do you do with your time? Just like the money you put aside for yourself, you need to make it work for you, not leave it under your bed. Same with your time, you need to make it work for you. If you have no idea where to start, what to do, one fruitful time filler is studying. Start with the Smarter Starter Pack. Really study it like David Bowden wanted you to. Then take the next step in your education. Give it the time it needs and deserves. Just like your money you put aside grows exponentially, your knowledge and your profits will do the same.
Believe, achieve
Sinan Koray
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