Time Is Money? by Leslie Fieger

Not 1 in 10 people can tell you where money comes from, what it is and what it is good for, let alone how and why we get it.

The most common error that most people make is to equate money with wealth. That is, they believe that if one has a lot of money, one is wealthy. The following little story will show clearly that money does not equate to wealth.

Street people are today a very common site in our wealthy society. However, when I was a teenager, growing up in Calgary, there was only one visible street person. A man, who had lost both legs in WW2, sat, on his modified mechanic's dolly (kind of a wide skateboard), in front of a downtown department store every day, begging. He looked pitiful, no legs, dressed in rags, no wheelchair, no sense of usefulness or purpose. People gave him money every day.

One day, he died. Several hundred thousand dollars was found in his squalid and rundown home (given to him by the Government when he returned home from the war many years before). No relatives were found to give the money to. No friends were found to bury him.

Lots of money. No wealth at all.

You probably know this already: money is nothing more than an agreed medium of exchange that allows people to trade one perceived thing of value for another perceived thing of value. You trade your sweat, energy, time, creativity, productivity, skill or talent for an agreed upon amount of money and then you trade agreed upon amounts of your money for those goods and services that provide you with survival, security, comfort, pleasure, self-esteem, self-actualization and personal fulfillment.

Money is the agreed upon mechanism that facilitates the flow of wealth. You trade your wealth (value) as a human being (even if it is as basic as your physical labor) for some money that you then trade for something of value (wealth) like food and shelter.

The more value that you are able to create and contribute, the more money you can gain and the more things of value you can accumulate and enjoy (be wealthy).

Nothing that you can accumulate, however, is of any value unless you have the time freedom to enjoy it. Many people often make the mistake to trade ever greater amounts of their ever dwindling time in order to get more money. Some stop here, just keeping the money without actually exchanging it for something of value. A poor trade, indeed. Many do trade the money for valuables like a nice home filled with all the modern conveniences and toys. But how valuable is a top-of-the-line stereo system and 1,000 great music CDs in your fancy home, if you have no time to enjoy them because you are forever working (trading your time) to get more money?

Since the most valuable thing you will ever have is your time, the more time you have to sacrifice (give away) to get money to have the time to enjoy what life has to offer, the less wealthy you are. The less time you need to give away in order to have the time to do the things you want to do, the more wealthy you are.

If you have managed to create a situation (the circumstances) where what you want to do with your time also produces the money to allow you to do what you want to do, then you are truly wealthy.

If what you do with your time to produce money is not what you want to do with your life (your time on planet earth), then you are impoverished, no matter how much money you make/earn.

Let's say that what you want to do with your time (life) is create music. Let's imagine that your music is so good that millions of people around the world buy your CDs. You end up with a lot of money. But is that the true measure of your wealth? No. The true measure of your wealth is that you have the complete time freedom to spend your life (and your money) doing what you'd like to be doing; i.e. making music (and whatever else suits you on any given day). To quote one famous wealthy musicologist (Bob Dylan)... "What's money? A man is a success (wealthy) if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."

How did you gain this extraordinary wealth? Simple. By providing real (or perceived) value to the lives of other people. Want more valuables? Become more valuable. Or, provide more value to other peoples' lives. Spend your time being a contribution. Your true wealth is not measured by what you are able to accumulate, but by what you are enabled to contribute. Become more valuable and you will be able to do or create more value and will end up having more valuables.

The amount of money that passes through your hands is just a measure of how open you are to the natural flow of abundance...the exchange of one form of wealth for another.

Never make the mistake of equating money to wealth. Your wealth is determined by who you are, what you can contribute (create) and the amount of time freedom you have to enjoy your life and all it has to offer. The how of life may be complex, but the why is simple: it is to revere, relish and contribute. If you choose to be free to do those three things with all your heart, you are indeed wealthy. To what purpose do you journey through life? Why do you do what you do with your time?

Time is money? No! Time is wealth. Spend it wisely. Waste or squander your time and no amount of money will ever buy it back.

Some questions to ask yourself...

1. What would you do with your life if money were not an issue?

2. What value are you creating with your time?

3. What value are you trading your time for?

4. Are you reverent? Sacred?

5. Are you relishing? Enjoying?

6. Are you contributing? Creating?
7. Are you wealthy?