Five takeaways:
- Thinking of time as something to be invested in, rather than spent, can help people think more long-term. It can help them reevaluate their priorities, making them happier and more satisfied with their lives.
- Rewarding investments of time might include deepening social connections, exercising, and engaging in meaningful work. Each has a range of benefits that can be wildly unexpected!
- To determine your own best time investments, you can perform a time audit, where you record how you spend your time and how happy it makes you feel on a scale of 1 to 10.
- To invest your time more effectively, you can be proactive and block off time on your calendar for activities that are important to you, rather than trying to fit them in around other commitments.
- Viewing things like deepening social connections or volunteer work as “wastes of time” because they provide no financial reward can make you feel guilty. Viewing these things as investments reframes them as a part of a lifelong journey of meaning and human value.
From Joe Pinsker at The Wall Street Journal:
Note: At the time of this posting The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription to read this article.