Would you pay two hours of your life for a bus ride? Would you choose to sleep late if you had less than one day to live? Would you work harder to deliver results if it added extra time to your life?
The movie “In Time” takes us to a world in the not too distant future where time is the currency. In this futuristic world, everyone stops aging at age 25 and stops living one year after that UNLESS they bank additional time.
Wages are paid in hours and minutes. Gambling debts are paid in time transferred to the winner. The wealthy walk slowly, savor every moment, and hire security to protect themselves. They can live forever without aging. The poor run.
This question ran through my head as I watched the movie: What would I do differently if time was the real money of the day?
Would the twenty minutes watching videos on You Tube be worth twenty minutes of my life? Would I pay one hour for a nice bottle of wine, or would I stick with the Iced Tea for 5 minutes? Would I ensure that my work added so much value that I received a bonus in time, or would I do just the minimum?
These are more than interesting dinner party questions for people with too much time on their hands. They cut to the core of what is important in your life. Would you give someone a half-hour so that they could eat a meal if you knew that it could mean your death? Would you hoard your time, or would you give it away?
Would you steal time from another if it meant living for another day? Would you work harder or show a greater sense of urgency in your work if it earned you more time?
The way we invest and spend our time says a lot about our commitment to achieving the results we say that we want. “To Do” lists declare our intentions. “It’s Done” lists demonstrate our commitment to achieving results.
The English writer Charles Caleb Colton, said, “Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.”
The proverb says that Time is money. What would you do differently if that was true in the most literal of terms?