Someone once said

“While money doesn’t buy happiness, it sure does make me laugh a lot.”

Obviously, this was said by someone who was not only given money, but also had time to spend it. Because, the truth is, money alone doesn’t bring joy. Being able to have time to spend and do things with the ones you love is what happiness and success really is.

When people want to become an entrepreneur, they don’t really think about work. They think about freedom.

What is success?

This comes down to what success really is. Success is freedom. Success means you can take the day off to spend with your kids on a field trip. Success means that if you want to enjoy a leisurely breakfast with your spouse on Sunday morning, you can.

Success means that if you want to take that trip to Nepal, you can. Yes, money helps you pay for those things, but money is just the means by which you can buy them and anyone can make money. But not everyone who has money also has the time to enjoy it. Time is up. Money is not.

the value of time

Timothy Ferriss, in his book, The 4 Hour Work Week says:

“To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things are not as serious as they seem to be.”

This is why prioritizing the things you do based on money will often backfire.

Instead, base everything you do on the time it will cost you. What will take you away from what you would really rather be doing? Of course, there are some things to do that we don’t want to do. However, most of those things can be outsourced and worked around the most important things on your to-do list.

Most things can just wait.

People who are truly successful in life realize the truth of time limits and do everything they can to make the most of the time they have. That’s why some of the most successful people you know are so productive. Successful people often live according to their calendars and schedules. That may sound unromantic, but the truth is, scheduling work and play will improve your life by leaps and bounds.

In fact, get out your calendar right now and schedule all the non-work related things you want to do with your family and yourself first.

Once you’ve done that, you can fit the work around those things. That is the goal of becoming an entrepreneur: to have freedom, but it is important that you remember what constitutes freedom.

Not money, but time. How much is your time worth?