Time is Money: Another Bullsh*t Idea

We've all heard the maxim before: Time is Money. The thing is, Benjamin Franklin said this around 1748 about tradesmen. The implication was, if you sat idle and didn't travel to make the year's wage, you spent more than you earned. True, you need to make money somehow, but that doesn't prove the old saying to be true.

 
Franklin is a great man, and no doubt he deserves to be on the $100 bill. 


However, in 2012 this is hardly true, if not only for the following three reasons.

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I. Remember the Precious Moments

At this point you might be skeptical, and you should be. Many people know money is relevant to everyday life. If you don't have money in this world, and you'll probably die. That is, unless you are an excellent hobo.

As Franklin said, if you sit on your tail-side, you won't make a dollar. Of course, you could be a paid blogger, a web journalist, a social media expert, a publicist with an online basis, etc., but you get the point. You have to work to make money. 

Working for cash doesn't always mean time is money, though. Visiting long-lost relatives is crucial to existence, for human being are pack-animals, and spending time with an ill loved one (no matter who or why) is crucial to life. Vacations are important too. Time spent not working is also valuable, but in an intangible way. You can always make money, but you can never get back the seconds of life - and don't give me that I'll-be-cryogenically-frozen bit. Not even Walt Disney is frozen. 


Some still insist, based on an old adage they were taught, spending time with your company is equally important. They're probably full of shit, and here's why:

II. Be a Company Person

Company's have a new perspective on business now, something far different than what your grandparents experienced during their lifetimes. It used to be, you stay with a company, and they will take care of you for life.

Then layoffs became almost a commercial concept. Hell, at one of my old day-jobs I saw a man fired before his retirement just so the company could save a buck. 35+ years of service, thinking time is money, and he lost both without gaining either. 

And during the good ol' days, companies were groups of people working towards a similar goal. Something to consider is the more recent legal perspective of corporations: THEY'RE CONSIDERED PEOPLE. Most jobs really don't care if you want a raise, and unless you were/are Steve Jobs, they'll can you as soon as they see fit. Profits down? Cut the workers. Go to a mid-west grocery store and tell me how many workers you count. 

As for Steve Jobs, keep in mind Apple fired him in 1985. Jobs was fired from his own company because he started to think for himself, pushed people hard, and had a different vision from the money-makers. Think what you'd like about him personally, but Jobs was fired for not being a "yes man" in his own company. 

And besides, typical jobs only pay you so much. If you're hourly and work harder, you make the same as a slacker. If you're salaried, you get paid the same no matter how much time you invest. There again, time isn't money. Additionally, if salaried, you're probably in some sort of managerial position which offers bonuses. That's cool - More money for more time and energy. Consequentially, though, if you say no and really don't care about the bonuses for whatever reason, you'll probably be canned. 

This is 2012, and things are different.

III. It's 2012

Right now some of you are nodding your heads, and some of you are pissed off. Thanks for still reading.

In 2012, you can do whatever it is you want to do, but let me give you one piece of advice: Do what you like to do and have an entrepreneurial mindset. These two things will allow more time for those precious moments, the ability to be a company person, and adjust to the new age. And if you're canned or lose work, at least you gain something non-material.

 At the end of the day, happiness is the most important part of life. Enjoy it. A rich man with financial tunnel vision probably ends up paying for his relationships on a nightly basis. 

Go Benjamin Franklin for being awesome, but just because he said "Remember time is money," doesn't mean he  envisioned 2012. I mean, he wrote that line on paper, to a friend, via snail-mail.

Thanks for reading!