Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment

Good ideas, but the article could really use more examples of what he’s talking about. All I saw in there were 1) play basketball and 2) don’t go out drinking. Not a huge help.

Thanks for the feedback, James. I see your point. My intention with this article was to explain the ideas in a conceptual sense. If people are interested in more concrete examples of how to apply them, that’s something I will definitely cover in the future.

I enjoyed the article John. As a fulltime worker, aspiring blogger, father & husband I know that time is precious. I consider myself productive in many ways, but there is still much I can do (eg less TV and drinking). A followup article with specific examples would be useful.

Thanks, Peter, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

John…great piece (this one will get tagged for future reference). I especially like the analogy of compounding interest with compounding your time while your young. I’m in my late 20′s and I’ve personally felt a significant shift in my prioritize in the last 2 years to get things done & be productive so that I’m not behind the eight ball when I’m in my 40′s and 50′s. I’m a mortgage banker and too often I see credit reports where individuals are just swamped in debt and working jobs that are normally not conducive for substantial increases in pay. These people have reached the ceiling in terms of earning power and are stuck working these dead-end jobs that they hate but have to do everyday to pay their bills. I don’t want to be like this and I’m grateful for the many resources (Internet) available today for me to learn and advance me skill set so that I can set myself up nicely in the years ahead.

[...] >> Time is all we have: 3 ways to increase return on investment << “Many people think their time isn’t valuable when they aren’t working, so they throw it away on activities that have a poor return on investment and don’t build for the future. The truth is, no one else is going to consider your time valuable until you do. If you want to acquire the wealth that will provide the freedom to live your ideal lifestyle, start thinking of every decision as an investment. Nothing is insignificant.” Pick the Brain is becoming one of my favorite blogs. It’s not specifically about personal finance, but it has some great tips. [...]

Small thing:

One of the links on your home page is broken:

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/learn-to-understand-your-own-intelligence/

richard,

Thanks for letting me. It’s fixed now. Some how that post got set to private.

“If you waste time when you’re young, you can’t make up for it later because you’ve lost the opportunity to utilize the power compounding.”

On the other hand, if you work all the time and don’t take the opportunity to have fun while you’re young, you may not be able to make up for it later after you’ve retired, because you will no longer be young so many doors will be closed to you (unless you work so hard you can retire young). Just something to think about.

Very true. The last thing I want to advocate is the workaholic lifestyle. I think working a lot can feel great if your career is something you love. It all about finding balance, not an easy thing to do.

That’s a great article John. To me, it’s really more about prioritizing. If I have a choice between two actions, I should choose the one with the most amount of positives and the least amount of negatives. If I’m choosing between two forms of entertainment, I should pick the one that might also teach me something, or help my finances.

John, I recently discovered your Website and I am really enjoying it. A previous poster stole my thunder with his praise of your “power of compounding” theory, since that part of the article truly resonated with me.

My problem when I was younger wasn’t lack of hard work — it was lack of focus. I spent time working in radio, then in I.T., then in writing, tutoring, etc. My journey has been fragmented, which has minimized my ability to “compound” my experiences.

There is some benefit to this, though. I find that my fragmented experiences give me a somewhat unique perspective and an ability to handle a wide range of tasks — so maybe another way of looking at it is that the power of compounding has created a single, cohesive skillset from all my early wandering.

Great Blog, John.

Hi John,

I enjoyed your post and realised I’ve been worrying about the “Return On Investment” of my time a lot lately. My main “weakness” is that I have a 90 minute commute to and from work everyday. It’s an unacceptable waste that I have been trying to solve by doing a lot of reading and also by getting a portable internet device so I can be productive whilst travelling. But I think commuting is a large percentage of peoples wasted ROI.

Cheers,
Tom Fotherby

Thanks everybody.

hey, I have a question for you. What do you think about religion? Is it a major part of your life? Do you think it’s a positive investment of our time? and do you think there will actually be a ROI?

Ahmad K,

That’s a tough question, I think the answer is probably different for different people. Personally, I’ve never been very involved in formal religion, but I think individual spirituality is important. The ROI all depends on personal beliefs so it’s nearly impossible to measure.

[...] Pick The Brain: Time Is All We Have- 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment – “In many ways time is more valuable than money. You’ll always have the opportunity to make more money, but once time has been spent it’s gone forever. When you think of time as a commodity, and all of your actions as investments, it changes the way you approach every day decisions.“ [...]

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I really enjoyed how you’ve defined the part about starting young and realizing the power of being productive as early as possible. The drinking part made me chuckle

I’m going to be the contrarian here and disagree. It’s not about time. It’s about choosing your actions. I’ve seen fellow employees whine because they said they needed more training in time management. They were blaming their lack of success on an external factor: time. They should have been blaming it on an internal factor: their poor decision making skills. Because they blamed their lack of success on an external factor, they went reactive and waited for something or someone to do something for them. But they should have been proactive in learning how to make better choices.

As for “compounding,” you cannot invest one hour and expect to get back 7o minutes.

Although I disagree, I like your blog. Keep up the good, hard work.

Regards,

Glenn

I particularly like the “compounding theory” and I couldn’t agree more on it. Thank you for this nice post John.

Glenn,

With regards to compounding, I never meant to say that you can create more time. What I meant is that if you put in effort earlier, you get greater returns. For example, if someone worked very hard in their early 20′s and became a manager at the age of 25, they’d have a great chance of becoming an executive. On the other hand, someone who wasted 5-10 years before working hard and became a manager at 32 would have a much harder time rising through the corporate ranks. Even if the 32 year old worked harder, they already missed out on the benefits of early entry.

The idea is that success builds on itself. The rich keep getting richer, so the sooner you can start building momentum the more time it has to snowball. I see examples of this everywhere, especially with this blog. If only I’d started it a couple years ago.

Love picking your brain. The “compounding” example is excellent and it’s great to see someone so young “get it” while he still has time within a natural lifespan to enjoy and maximize the compounding aspect of those time-as-investment-decisions. I’m a baby boomer who wasted too many years on sex, drugs & rock ‘n roll, as they say. Bad decisions and certain circumstances that don’t need airing have left me approaching retirement with NADA! Even though I can do some things now to try and catch up a bit, the reality of the limited quantity of time is left to me, especially pre-the looming deteriorating health of ‘old age’, cannot be altered or ignored.

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[...] are *your* multiple positives? Let’s hear ‘em in the comments. — Wendy Boswell Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment [Pick The Brain [...]

“If I can find a way to get paid to eat delicious food I’ll be golden.”

become a food critic?

Haha, that’s a great suggestion.

Speaking of wasting time, I just realized that’s exactly what I was doing by reading all your comments!

Haha, well this site is the exception!

One of the multiple positives for me is doing exercise while listening to audio books or podcasts. It both helps body and brain.

That’s a great example. I need to download more podcasts to my Ipod and hit the elliptical machine.

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment – [PickTheBrain] digg_url = ‘http://www.lifehack.org/articles/management/3-ways-to-invest-in-time.html'; ( function() { var ds=typeof digg_skin==’string’?digg_skin:”; var h=80; var w=52; if(ds==’compact’) { h=18; w=120; } var u=typeof digg_url==’string’?digg_url:(typeof DIGG_URL==’string’?DIGG_URL:window.location.href); document.write(“”); } )() Author: Craig Childs Posted: Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 10:33 am Tags: investing, investment, investments, time, time+management, timemanagement Bookmark or Share this with a friend! [...]

@John Wesley — Multiple Positives are a great concept, which I guess I’ve been using for some time.

@Wade Allen — you mentioned it first — I’ve been doing this for 8 years now, with this additional positive — I walk to work, listening to good books. So that’s at least three positives:
1. listening to books to improve my mind
2. commuting without polluting the air or burning fossil fuels
3. exercising daily like my doctor ordered

Aside: Given the rising price of gas, I keep expecting to meet even more walkers and bikers on my daily commute. Where are you guys?

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment – [PickTheBrain] [...]

@bc — I wish I was able to walk to work for the same reasons. Unfortunately I live too far away. Maybe if gas keeps going up I’ll look for a closer apartment.

[...] just read this post, and I agree very much.  Your time is worth so much more than money.  And some simple rules can [...]

a good example of compounding time might be in stretching.

if you want to be able to touch your toes at the age of 35, then at 25 it’s a good idea to be stretching regularly and maintaining that level of agility.

if you start when you’re 34.5, after 10 years of couch-blobbing, you’ll have less likelihood of reaching that goal.

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment  Annotated If you waste time when you’re young, you can’t make up for it later because you’ve lost the opportunity to utilize the power compounding. The truth is, no one else is going to consider your time valuable until you do [...]

[...] How to (successfully) get the most out of life June 12th, 2007 Time is money. In fact, it is more valuable. And since you want to get the most out of your time, read this article while eating a health snack and doing some isometric exercises. Ok, at least read: Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment [...]

Great stuff, John! I love the concept of multiple positives. I bet that many people read this and assume that you mean multi-tasking at work is a good thing. I’m not so sure – when you’re trying to do many things at once, you typically don’t do any of them well. Or, worse, you’re just switching back and forth between different things, and failing to put your full brainpower behind any of them.

Rather, your definition of multiple positives (I believe) is to take a SINGLE task that has multiple benefits, and focus on that.

Keep up the great work!

Matt,

You’re exactly right about what I meant. I’m actually a terrible multi-tasker and don’t believe it increases productivity (at least in my case). When I’m working on something I become completely absorbed in what I’m doing and ignore everything else. My friends complain about this all the time because they’ll ask me a question and won’t get any response until I break my train of thought.

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[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment by John WesleyTime is precious, so  you should invest it in the best possible way to maximize return on investment. This article gives you three practical ways to do so: look for multiple positives, avoid multiple negatives, and utilize the power of compounding. [...]

Excellent article. Everyone is familiar with the power of compounding as it pertains to money, but few consider health, relationship, and other implications. An excellent but little known book that illuminates this is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson.

Every day, in every moment, you get to exercise choices that will determine whether or not you will become a great person, living a great life. Greatness is not something predetermined, predestined or carved into your fate by forces beyond your control. Greatness is always in the moment of the decision. –Jeff Olson

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment  Annotated If you waste time when you’re young, you can’t make up for it later because you’ve lost the opportunity to utilize the power compounding. The truth is, no one else is going to consider your time valuable until you do [...]

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Switching from the child mindset to the adult mindset was something I really struggled with. At first (when I was 13), I just wanted to be a kid and have fun because I was sick of people expecting me to adopt the teen mindset, which I found filled with social conditioning. Then I found StevePavlina.com and I realized with the adult mindset, implemented in a courageous way, I could have even more fun than I had before I was 13! (From 1-12 my life was basically routine contentment, social conditioning finally made it worse and made my life from 13-14 pretty much not fun)

I’ve completely skipped the teen mindset (I’m 15 now), and I’m glad I did because to tell you the truth it’s just a popularity contest. Compound interest is so true with time and investing it… I noticed back in 2006 when I discovered Steve Pavlina, my life didn’t get better at all for several months. I had tried to break internet addiction and it kind of worked. I tried setting and achieving goals and it kind of worked. I set up a website and that kind of worked. Then a couple months ago they started to pay off. I had improved my personality, health, and optimism. This week things are going much faster. My website is getting more traffic, I started a blog (I don’t know how so many ideas for blog entries popped out of thin air!), I’m getting better at game dev, becoming an early riser, implementing a creativity style similar to that of the Disney Imagineers, and spending more time with my friends.

But because I’m a minor it severely limits what I can do. I can’t set up a domain name because I have neither the money (game biz hasn’t taken off yet) nor sufficient experience in HTML yet. I can’t use Google Adsense to generate income because I’m under 18. I can’t transfer my savings to ING direct and get 5.25% interest because I’d need a joint checking account with my mother or father because and that is too much trouble to do. I can’t spend as much time as I’d like designing my games because my mom says it’s bad to be on the computer for more than 1.5 hours a day.
So here’s my Master Plan, this will maximize my compound returns on time investment:

Now – 2010
– Keep reading Steve Pavlina to undo all social conditioning.
– Adopt a sleep pattern of getting up at dawn and going to bed at night. (This healthier and you need less sleep this way than if you sleep in and stay up late every weekend day)
– Keep coding games so by the time I can set up my business I’ll be good enough to start making money immediately.
– Stop eating junk food (this is hard to break, stupid social conditioning!) and start excersing more

2010 – 2018
– Establish passive income that requires 1 hour a week or less to maintain
– Get really good at time management
– Get married

2019 and onward
– I haven’t though about this part yet, but most of it is going to be free time

Thank you for reminding me that social conditioning gives us negative muliple negatives now I can replace them with multiple positives!!!

[...] to discover.   Recommended posts include Why the 9-5 Workers Will Become a Thing of the Past, Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment and 27 Blogging [...]

I agree with the whole concept of time management and making good choices about how to spend time in productive ways. Eventually every positive, productive action leads to some kind of payoff that makes it worth while. However, I would like to point out that some activities look like they are a waste of time, but actually feed the soul of creativity and energize the spirit. The benefits are internal and cannot be proven or given a monetary value. Things like gazing out over a beautiful scene, like the ocean or mountains or quietly, watching wildlife are necessary activities to calm the mind and bring balance. Sitting in the morning sun while sipping a fresh cup of brew is not productive, but rather a Sunday morning ritual that makes me feel happy to be alive! So I say, go out and choose to be productive, but also nurture your self with some “time out” activities that make you feel good and don’t have to create, produce, or payoff in the future. Sometimes enjoy life by just being here and don’t feel guilty about your personal “time outs”!

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] Wesley of Pick The Brain talks about Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to  Increase Return on Investment, 5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Intelligence and many more.  John’s advices are always [...]

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

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While I think you are dead-on in describing a good set of rules for the average person, and your thesis is 100% correct, highly intelligent individuals might suffer from following this advice. It’s no secret that the most brilliant ideas come from a very small number of people. This advice is somewhat prejudiced towards conformity, and conformity is a killer for brilliant minds. Sometimes allowing yourself to “wander” is essential for letting the subconscious mind take over and solve problems and dream up new ideas.

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

daveo, I couldn’t agree with you more. “not all who wander are lost” – Tolkien.

I also couldn’t agree with John more. I think you need both. Think of it this way.

MAXIMIZE your time, like john talks about with a very STRONG FOCUS. Be Proactive in making yourself that much time to “wander and do nothing”.

I am by no means successful yet that I could pretend to be an expert in this, but I can give an example of an experience I had recently.

I run my own business and am fortunate to have several salespeople, production, admin staff, etc. so that I don’t need to be there every minute of every day.

I crashed at my brother’s house(which happens to be the house I grew up in) and went for a run through neighborhoods I hadn’t seen since I was a kid.

It was a perfect day and I had no plans for where I was running, I just went.

Turns out I ended up at this amazing dock overlooking a huge lake.

I must have sat there for 2 hours. It was well after 9am and I guess everyone else was at work or school. I just sat there and watched geese fly around, cars on a bridge on the other side of the lake, frogs, minnows.

I ended up coming up with a new marketing idea for my business that is really working. If I hadn’t spent a few hours without distraction in a stimulating environment that I randomly wandered to, maybe I wouldn’t have thought about my life and business the way I did(not trying to say it was a genius move like you’re eluding to).

John, I’m glad to see your sticking with this concept. Good stuff.

You made some very good points about return on investment and I would like to add my two cents. I agree that time is way more valuable than money, but I disagree with your opinion of lost opportunities due lack of time compounding. In my opinion, opportunities are primarily based on location and vocation. You have to know which vocation offers the best opportunities in the right location. Furthermore, you should be passionate about your vocation. Basically, anyone can become successful at any point in time regardless of how old they are when they start.

Time is way to complex of a subject to use in an article unless you plan on utilizing some scientific jargon. Even Einstein’s theory of special relativity is incomplete without considering biology, specifically space radiation. I can’t say that it is impossible to compound time, but I think you meant compounding opportunities which is more based on decision making than time. Each opportunity opens a door to another opportunity that a clever person can take full advantage of. Some people are just better at making the best decisions for their own life than others.

I think your idea about multiple positives is spot on though. For example instead of just focusing on getting rich, one could focus on becoming a millionaire or billionaire while traveling the world and completing many other goals along the way all at once. Great post.

[...] couple months ago when I wrote about investing time wisely and the concept of multiple positives many readers commented, saying that an excellent way to [...]

Awesome! I love the article, I’m sure many people who read this will benefit and take control of their lives through more efficient time management. “Until we can manage TIME, we can manage nothing else.” – Druker Peter F. Once you fully understand the power of Time Management you will become more productive at work, home & leisure. And I love to personally share more on my experience in my personal blog over here.

[...] Recently I’ve been dealing with the issue of time scarcity. Between this site, my regular job, preparations for the CFA exam, and other projects, things get busier every day. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but in order to fit everything in, I’ve been searching for new ways to use time more efficiently. [...]

[...] it be a project at work or a personal hobby, of course you want to be spending your time wisely. Time could even be considered to be more valuable than money; you can always make more money, but the same is not true for time. ROI (return on investment) is [...]

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[...] Perform tasks with multiple positives. – “The key to finding multiple positives is finding areas where different positive actions intersect.  If I can find a way to get paid to eat delicious food I’ll be golden.” – via Pick The Brain [...]

[...] Perform tasks with multiple positives. – “The key to finding multiple positives is finding areas where different positive actions intersect. If I can find a way to get paid to eat delicious food I’ll be golden.” – via Pick The Brain [...]

Enjoyed the article. Your last suggestion pretty much translates to “Take ownership of all your activities”. Just thinking that has created a mental shift that feels empowering. I am dying to put that into action.

[...] Utilize the power of compounding. – “I’m sure that everyone reading this understands the power of compound interest.  When you invest money you earn interest.  Then you start earning interest on the money you earned from interest.  Over many years this continues to compound and eventually leads to a very large sum of money.  The same concept applies to time.  If you invest time by working hard when you’re young, you put yourself in a position to succeed that will continue compounding for the rest of your life.  If you waste time when you’re young, you can’t make up for it later because you’ve lost the opportunity to utilize the power compounding.” – via Pick The Brain [...]

“Unlike business, there are no percentages or spreadsheets to reference.”

Why not? There should be. If “the key is investing our time in a manner that perfectly balances …and forms a productive and pleasurable life,” I think a spreadsheet or a similar software application is indispensable. We use calculators and spreads when investing our money with reference to compounding and maximizing our returns, yet we invest our time aimlessly.

I would be most interested in a software or spreadsheet that allows me to consistently invest in multiple positives.

Excellent article. Thanks!

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I don’t profess to know everything about all topics of investing… so my question to contemplate in making any investment decisions is “does it counter-act the decline of the Dollar?” As with any investment these days, that is my main concern.

In my search, I have found that only gold truly counter-acts the decline of the U.S. Dollar. Since the Euro was established, although it is only back by gold 15%, it has by far outperformed the U.S. Dollar and, since the U.S. Dollar is not backed by gold, it has lost it’s value and continues to lose its value. So far, the only investment I have found to truly counter-act the fall of the Dollar is by literally backing yourself with gold.

To be specific, U.S., investment-grade gold and silver coins, so it’s not just bullion, which value is derived by way of its weight, but also the collector’s or “rarity” value. In other words, gold bullion’s value is based on it’s weight alone, whereas an investment-grade gold / silver coin’s value would also be from their rarity value, in addition to their actual weight in gold and silver.

Lastly, the primary reason to look at coins as an investment, at least for me, is their privacy level, because no one has to know that you have them. They are not reportable, as most other investments. I am a client of and highly recommend Gold Run Investments for their expert advice as well as the best pricing structure. They have educated me to the point where I believe I have a good understanding now in the difference of several different types of gold investments.

For more information, go to GoldRunInvestments.com. Don’t ask for me, because I am not a part of their company, I am just a very happy client and will continue to invest with them because they have the lowest prices that I have found, after contacting several of the firms, and the savings has gone right back into my investment portfolio for a higher return on my investment, which is why I tell everyone I know.

If you have questions, talk to their experts. They will explain everything without making you feel ignorant. It was a process for me since I used to invest in gold stocks, but then again, learning how to invest in stocks was a process for me, too. Best of luck to you in protecting yourselves and your family.

Yes, time is a commodity that cannot be replenished, which is why it is so valuable. I like the fact that you alluded to balancing your time, because this is another important aspect regarding the usage of time in addition to return on investment. People those who just focus on return of investiment lose site of the importance of having a balanced life because they are solely focused on monetary returns, which seldom if ever render long term true happiness like a balance lifestyle does.

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways To Increase The  Return On Investment [...]

Goethe says: Everything we say has been said before; the trick is to say it in a new way.

The ideas here are not new but by expressing them in a new, fresh way, you have made me see things in a different perspective. Thanks!

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways To Increase The  Return On Investment [...]

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways To Increase The  Return On Investment [...]

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways To Increase The  Return On Investment [...]

“As a child, your only responsibility is entertaining yourself. You needn’t worry about investing your time because Mommy and Daddy are there to take care of you and they’re usually happy as long as you stay out of trouble. …After graduation we’re expected to adopt the adult mindset (and the responsibility of investing our time) instantaneously.”

What exactly is an adult mindset? How is time investment as a child different from an adult? Sure the desired outcomes change with time. As a child you do whatever you are most passionate about–playtime, socializing, games, music, art, reading, sports, etc. As an adult, sometimes you have to settle for less. Given a choice of activities and no peer pressure, children will choose activities that are more rewarding, while adults may consider factors that will not make them as happy (ex: money). I think children intuitively choose great time investments that likely turn into lifelong habits, hobbies, passions, etc. “If you invest time by working hard when you’re young, you put yourself in a position to succeed that will continue compounding for the rest of your life.” Maybe we should have an article to instruct children and adults what investments/activities are good and what don’t pay off as much in the long run? And tell parents not to interfere in activities a child finds value in.

I wish I can spend as much time doing the things I love as I did younger (cuisine, music, art, reading classics, sports, theology, philosophy, helping people ).

We all learn from mistakes and so do children. If something turns out to have a bad consequence, the activity is pruned.

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I’m a designer and my time is more valuable than lots of things – one thing i hate is paying bills, there’s some sites out there like http://www.billstrust.com that are filling gaps in peoples lives slowly chipping away at time wasting peeves that we now take for granted (washing clothes used to take a day).

Time is the most valuable commodity that you can’t get back. You can’t get a stop watch and pause and save it for later. Every time I feel like I’m not using my time productively I get this feeling that that’s a wasted self-investment.

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[...] by Editor, Pick The Brain on May 30, 2007 – 99 Comments Categories: popular, productivity [...]

It’s really nice and helpful information thanks for sharing this with us. It is very important that we know how to invest our time correctly. I’m just so glad that you’ve shared the right info- it’s really helpful. Try to make use of your time investment connect with your customer easily. update socialnetworks

Utilize the Power of Compounding its simple to look at but really something top ponder over. its right now making me reflect back at my life.great start for my self

The most important factor in website roi is ensuring your website design is user centred and that users can achieve their goals on your site quickly and effectively. There is no point spending lots of time and money on seo if you don’t ensure that you support this via optimised, effective landing pages. You should always ensure you usability test your sites with real users and reiterate your design based on the results. Companies often spend lots on marketing to get people to their websites, but they fail to convert the user within the site. This is where user centred design really helps roi, as it focusses on the user’s experience of your website and employs design techniques and a knowledge of human behaviour to encourage users to become customers.

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[...] further reading I recommend that you check out this site here which has some more thoughts on ROI.  And this one as well by techrepublic.com. Tweet This [...]

An interesting discussion is worth comment. I believe that you should write extra on this matter, it might not be a taboo topic however usually persons are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers

[...] website that focuses on personal productivity and motivation. Here is a link to an article “Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment,” which provides an interesting way to think about how you spend your time. Tagged with: [...]

There was a study done but I can’t remember the group about being productive during the working day. They did the study on fortune 500 CEO’s. They found that each CEO was productive meaning working on those things that would directly affect their bottom line between 26 and 38 minutes a day. Now CEO’s are very busy working on a lot of things, but they were only able to spend about a half hour a day directly affecting there ROI for their business. Which means you have to focus on what’s most important and block out all other distractions so you get those things done that have the greatest affect. If it doesn’t get you closer to your goal then is should be put aside. Try this, get a kitchen timer and set it for sixty minutes. Then start working on what is most important that will have the biggest affect on whatever that is in your life. And see if you actually spend that entire hour doing what you set out to do. You will be amazed at what takes you away from the important tasks.

I truly agree with what you said about valuing your own time. No matter how many times you try to make other people that your time is important, they just won’t get it. It’s the same as you not getting to understand that their time is as important as yours.

Hi,

I really appreciate your site – thanks and good karma to you but you have a typo – here – Many people my age fail realize this,

just meant to help

I found this very insightful. A really good read, thanks for putting this up.

[...] Time is All We Have: 3 Ways To Increase The  Return On Investment [...]

Investing your time wisely is one of the greatest lessons one can learn in life. Even if you invest a little time everyday to something you want to achieve,  it all adds up. The amount of time I wasted playing video games, if I’d invested that time in business, I would already be a successful businessman by now. Balance is the key, and I’m only just figuring that out now. 

man, I just had another great idea. While I’m working on the laptop blogging, writing ebooks etc, I of course run out of ideas sometimes, or just need a quick two minute break or something. I would find myself browsing useless websites on the net. Well no more! 

I’m trying to learn Spanish and I’ve just downloaded an application that let’s me practice. I’m going to open up this application and leave it open the whole time. That way, when I need a break from work, I can just start practising Spanish instead of wasting time on the net. 

There is not enough hours in the day!! if only we didnt have to sleep i would get so much more done lol,, some great ideas here!!

nice i ll try today onward 

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[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] If you concentrate on doing only the things that YOU should do, you will become more effective. Playing to your strengths leaves you practicing to perfection. What you emphasize becomes enhanced. The more you do what you do best, the better you get. You only have so much time. [...]

[...] much time does it take? Time 1 What is the cost compared to the effectiveness and time? Cost 2-3 Of all the tools I recommend, Deep PEAT is one of the tools with my highest recommendation. Not only…e process I have found to date. It can be done in one or two, one hour sessions or less and it [...]

[...] Understand Time to Increase Return on Investment. Time is your most valuable resource. Understanding these ideas will help you make optimal decisions. [...]

[...] not a bad thing—you and I are both looking for a return on our investment. Whether it’s time, money or some other commodity, we want to know what we’re getting in return. In terms of [...]

i like the whole idea!! (y) 
a person who has wasted even an hour has not realized the value of life yet……
work but love the work you do, that’s the idea of having beautiful life !!

its never too late to start a business or invest. I wouldn’t call anytime as waste because it still impact your health. If you are constantly stress out and missing all the fun life has to offer, and die young, then what is the point of investment? Time is the most valuable investment, but as human being, you can not predict the outcome of your life. For anyone that is interested in investment and starting their own business, kudoos for you. Keep in mind you still NEED to enjoy life and waste a few of your time once a while. It is the same as having a lot of money but someone is forbidden you to even touch or spend it, can you handle that? My point is if you have a lot of money or time, Please waste it a little to give back to society and do your part of keeping this generation going.

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[...] 17. Pick The Brain is a web site that aims to motivate readers on toward a more productive, healthy and better-educated lifestyle. Self-improvement is the name of the game here, meaning psychology and philosophy are prominent features. Favorite Post: Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase ROI [...]

[...] Erin Falconer’s Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment [...]

An Average Middle-class person try to pend less than he earns. He  tries to invests 10% of his income in stocks, mutual funds and retirement’s plans. But he does not care about his time. 
He thinks time is abundant and he can wait 2-3 hours in line to buy cheaper items. He sells his time to receive income. When he wants to make more money, he works longer hours on his job. 

Instead a Financially educated person knows that time is his most  important assets. He uses other people’s money and other people’s time to make himself wealthy. For him time is more important asset than money. He continues learning and growing. 

He knows that money is abundant but he has limited time on this earth.

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Well said. Some times youth is wasted no matter how hard we dont want it to be. I highly agree that  its important to use our time to create a better purpose not only for ourselves but the world. This is a very inspirational article.Thank you.

[...] New Uses for Everyday Things Time is All We Have: 3 Ways to Increase Return on Investment Determining the doneness of a steak ***From the Evangelical [...]

It’s ALWAYS a good time to start a business — if you have a good model.
The economy isn’t as important as what you’re doing and if you can make
money doing it. There are a ton of stories about companies that started
in bust times and a ton of those that started in boom times too. Don’t
focus on the macro picture. If your business plan and model are solid,
you’ll do great.

Awesome dude… Am very much inspired & motivated with your words… Bravo….Bravo…

So cool methods. It is worth to have a try! 

Because of this article i realize that time is much valuable than money.As business man money is only my goal..Thanks