191: The Time Mindset – Beyond the Reach of Money

[00:00:28] one of the things we did at the beginning of the day was write down all the reasons that we had come to the event. Why were we in the room? What motivated us to invest a lot of money and a lot of time to get in that room. And we took a couple of minutes and wrote down. The reasons that we were there and Dave, the coach asked us, how many of you are here because you’d like to make more money.

[00:00:55] You’re here for money. You’d like to see that money column, the bank account balance increase in your life and a huge percentage of the room had money as one of their reasons. About 90 percent of the hands went up. He said, okay, what if I could give each one of you 10 million to help you Right now, 10 million.

[00:01:19] I’m going to put it in your bank account. You’re going to have access to it immediately. that money you can use for whatever you want. Only you can spend it. It’s gotta be you, but you can have it right now. How many of you would want it? And of course, every hand went back up. And then Dave said, well, here’s the catch.

[00:01:38] If you take the money, you only have one week left to live. How many of you still want the money? Zero hands went up and he made a really powerful point in that moment that our time is infinitely more valuable than our money. Time is more valuable than money. Okay. And we all know that. We would all say that.

[00:02:11] But when the rubber meets the road and you really think about, Would I rather have ten million dollars in my bank account, but only one week to live? Or the rest of my life ahead of me? And my bank account, where it is right now, I’ll take the time every single time because our families, the experiences in this life that we’ve not yet had, the places we want to go, the things we want to do, the impact we want to make through engineering in the world.

[00:02:40] It’s a no brainer decision, and I’m sure you would agree that it’s an absolute no brainer, but the problem is our mind. Is very conscious of how much money we have left and how much money we need. I’ll use air quotes around need. How much money we need to pay the bills or to go on that vacation or to retire by 65, whatever your goal is, we can calculate those numbers.

[00:03:09] We can see those balances on our bank account right there in front of our eyes. And as engineering leaders, we are really good at doing that math and planning and thinking about compounding interest and money and how much we need. None of us know how many grains of sand. Are left in the hourglass of our life.

[00:03:31] We don’t get to see that account balance. You don’t know how much time you have left. And what tends to happen is we fall into that mentality as if we have all the time in the world, as if we’re going to. Guaranteed to live until we’re 80 or 90 or whatever. And we’re not, we’re not guaranteed that. And the fact is that time passes very quickly and the older we get, the more we realize how true that is.

[00:04:01] But day to day, as we go through our career. As we go through our life, we forget that, and we focus so much on the bank account balance, and we forget to focus on the preciousness of time. You don’t have infinite time, and time is the only resource in your life that is truly limited. You cannot create more of it, but you can absolutely create More money.

[00:04:30] time is infinitely more valuable than money and being intentional. Take action now, not to be indecisive, not to hesitate, not to wait on things that you know you want to do and you need to do to create the life of your dreams. Take those actions. Now, Dave did. Me and the whole room, a huge service that day in our mastermind of helping us reorient our relationship with time to create a sense of urgency about living.

[00:05:04] Now, the life of our dreams to stop waiting for one day after we hit fill in the blank milestone to begin creating that. And it’s not a, I’m going to die tomorrow. So what should I do today? It’s a, how will I live today? As if I’m going to live every day the best it can be for the rest of my days without wasting any time in between.

[00:05:33] It’s recognizing you have actions you can take now to create that. And stop waiting to take them. Have the courage to act now. So I’d like to offer you a couple of additional Mindsets around time to reorient your relationship with the clock. And the first is the same one that Dave shared with me. Time is infinitely more valuable than money.

[00:06:00] So use your money to win back time. Because time is infinitely more valuable than money, use your money to buy back your time. Now, how do we do that? There’s lots of ways. One that people tend to think of is hiring people to do things you don’t want to do. Now in the business context, let’s say you own your own company that could literally be hiring a team member to take tasks off your plate so that you can move on and move up to next level tasks.

[00:06:33] Now, for a lot of us as engineering managers, that doesn’t apply directly if it’s not your company. Maybe you will be hiring someone underneath you to take on those tasks. But maybe that particular idea doesn’t resonate as much if you work at a big fortune 500 company, but it could be the same for you if you hire someone to mow your grass.

[00:06:54] You hire someone to clean your house. You hire someone to take care of your travel logistics for your next vacation. Using your money to buy back your time is a great trade. Time is infinitely more valuable than money, but here’s the other way that you use money to buy time. Buy the lessons that shorten the time between where you’re at and where you’re going.

[00:07:20] And your dream, the most successful people on the planet in every domain, but engineering leadership included recognize that we’re standing on the shoulders of giants, that someone else has solved the problem that you currently have find that person who’s already solved that problem. And by the lesson.

[00:07:42] Thomas Edison all of the failed attempts at creating lightbulbs, eventually, created one that worked. And then we just traded money for that discovery, for that lesson. To have a light bulb for ourselves. We didn’t have to go invent it on our own. And we’re doing this all the time.

[00:08:02] We’re buying the lessons of science and engineering. Mathematics all coming together. You’re doing this by the way, for other people in your career as an engineering manager and leader, but remember to do it for yourself. What’s the thing you want next? What is the next goal? The next milestone that would take you toward a life.

[00:08:22] You’re really, really excited to live. What is that? All right. If it’s being better at investing, then go hire someone and pay a coach and buy a program to learn how to master investing or day trading. If that’s what you want to do, maybe it’s. A skill for fun, like scuba diving. Great. Go hire that scuba certification instructor and go do the course and get your certification and go have a great time.

[00:08:50] Maybe it’s promoting to the next level in your career so you can increase your income and get to the place you want to go in your engineering career. In which case join us, pay for coaching and lessons and training that work. That’s what we do here at the Oasis of Courage. You can jump into our coaching program, but think about buying the lessons.

[00:09:10] This is what education and coaching and training is all about. Don’t be stingy about trading money for those lessons that can save you time in getting to that next promotion and getting to that next place in your life that matters most to you. So that’s lesson number one. Time is infinitely more valuable than money.

[00:09:29] So use your money to buy back your time. The second thing is not forgetting the eighth wonder of the world, compounding, compounding interest. It’s absolutely extraordinary, the power of time to compound results. even that, you know, eight to 10 percent compounding interest, a 20, 000 investment today, 20 years from now versus a 1, 000 investment every year for 20 years, that 20 K upfront, because of the power of compounding interest is going to be two to three X The value at the finish line, and that’s in low percentages of compounding interest, you start talking about 15, 20, 30 percent compounding interest.

[00:10:21] And that time factor gets huge. Well, here’s the thing, investing in yourself, what we were just talking about with buying those lessons, getting help and coaching and training and tools for the things that you want most out of your career, out of your health, out of your relationships, whatever it is, those compound over time as well.

[00:10:43] So if you wait. Another year or another five years, another 10 years to go and get that support, to get a leadership coach, to work on performance coaching, to get a relationship coach, to get that investing coach, whatever it is, if you wait to get the lesson. You’re missing the compounding interest of that lesson over time.

[00:11:02] I think about David, I didn’t even think about that. I got two Davids today, David, my mindset mentor, but this is David, a client. When David and I started working together, he was already in a good place. He’d actually just gotten a promotion and most people wait until they get stuck or frustrated in their career to get help.

[00:11:18] But he said, no, the best time for me to start building for the next level is day one. And sure enough, Just a year later in the middle of a hiring freeze, he earned another promotion and got onto an even better project that he was really, really excited about. And when he and I did a little reflection session on what had created that outcome for him, he said really simply, it’s the fact that I’ve had a whole year of compounding these lessons in leadership and personal growth and career skills.

[00:11:52] That whole year of compounding is what got me that outcome. It wasn’t that I took one action recently that got me the promotion. In the middle of a time when we were in a hiring freeze, it was a whole year of applying the lessons and the compounding that created that don’t miss the opportunity to compound the lesson.

[00:12:13] If it’s something, you know, you want to do a year from now, then why wouldn’t you do it six months from now? And if it’s something worth doing six months from now, why would you not do it right now? Get your priorities clear and take the action because compounding interest truly is that eighth wonder of the world.

[00:12:28] It’s amazing what time can do to compound results. Don’t miss it. And the third thing when I was in my engineering career, this was not, it was not something I ever thought about now as a coach and as an entrepreneur, as a business owner and investor. This has become more and more a part of my conscious awareness.

[00:12:52] The truth is that we all want financial freedom. Every single engineering leader I coach tells me they want some form of financial freedom, a retirement nest egg so they can get out of their career early, or passive income investments so they have more freedom and flexibility in their life financially.

[00:13:12] Everyone wants financial freedom. Time freedom precedes financial freedom. Time freedom Precedes financial freedom. Let’s talk about what I mean. It helps to go to a more extreme case to see the principle playing out. Imagine walking into a Starbucks and you meet a really nice barista, someone who’s super conversational, really warm.

[00:13:46] They’ve got a great smile. They’re making you feel right at home while they make your favorite drink. You’re chit chatting about the weekend and things that they did, things that you did and. You’re really enjoying the conversation. You have this great experience and you ask them, Hey, so you seem like a really nice person.

[00:14:03] You seem like a person who’s going places. what do you hope to do with your life? Where are you going from here? Any goals, any dreams for the future? And they say back to you, well, You know, I have a lot of things I’d love to do. I’d love to start my own business one day. I’d love to do X, Y, and Z. But unfortunately, because I have a lot of bills to pay, I work here at Starbucks 40 hours a week.

[00:14:28] And then I have two other jobs that fill in all the blanks. And I work from early morning until late in the evening, seven days a week. Just to be able to pay my bills and maintain my current lifestyle. And so I don’t have time to learn those new skills or to do those new things that I want to do, because if I stop working, I won’t be able to pay my bills.

[00:14:55] What a tricky place to be. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who feel trapped in that exact place in our country and in our world. And you’d look at that and say, How do they break out of that place feeling stuck financially? And you’d say, well, somehow they need to level up in their skill sets or at a minimum, carve out the time to apply Jobs and opportunities that could pay them more money because if they do nothing, if they just do what they’re doing right now and continue to work three jobs from dawn till dusk, they’re never going to get out of that rat race.

[00:15:39] They’re stuck. Something has to change. Well, the changes. Require what time it requires time. Even if it’s just time to apply for those jobs, they’re going to need time. Even if it’s time to go read a book or get some education or time to find a mentor who can help them with new ideas and new strategies, time to hang out with people who are in a different circle, a different stage of life, who can show them a different path.

[00:16:10] Click. There might be a lot of solutions, but each one of those solutions demands that they stop just pouring drinks at Starbucks and start doing something different. And sure, they could stop sleeping to create that time, maybe not a sustainable solution, but the point remains. They won’t break out of that place in their financial life until they break out of that place in their calendar.

[00:16:38] The time freedom precedes the financial freedom. You and I, with our engineering degrees, we invested time up front. Four years, six years, eight years, some of us, in terms of education. We invested a lot of time and potentially money and taking on debt to get to that place where you could then earn at a higher level later.

[00:16:59] But the time freedom to do that came before the financial reward. You only get out what you put in. There’s no return without investment. And we need to begin recognizing there’s a return on time invested as well. Time freedom precedes financial freedom. So while we do want to use our money to buy back our time, the urgency to act on the things that you want most is because the time freedom.

[00:17:29] Is what precedes putting yourself in a place where you’re choosing and creating time to invest in yourself, to level up, to then get to the place where you can experience the bigger rewards financially, that’s the actual order of this chicken and egg problem. And in a way we’re all in it for me to get to the next level in my business, for me to get to the next level in my private equity investing, for me to get to the next level and the things that I’m doing as a coach still demands that I create.

[00:18:02] Capacity in my time to invest first. And when I invest that time, it allows me to level up as a leader. That’s time with my coach. That’s time learning new skills. That’s time taking myself to the next level. And when I reach that level, more money flows in then back to principle. Number one, I take that money to now go purchase back even more time.

[00:18:30] The problem is when we think that the money must come first and we give up all of our time as it stands today. In the pursuit of the money, then we get trapped. That’s what leads to the burnout. And we continue to trade in that order. So let’s recap time. It’s a wild thing. Time is infinitely more valuable than money.

[00:18:53] And when we have the money, use it to buy back your time. But number two. Recognizing that compounding interest over time is the magic. And the sooner you act, the sooner you can experience that compounding growth. That’s not just with investing dollars. That’s investing in you, your leadership, your capability by the lessons.

[00:19:15] That will shorten time for you to the results. And number three, recognize that if you want to take an action, but you’re waiting for more money before you do it, you’re trading time for money. And you’re just saying, well, when I have more in the bank account, when I have, then I’ll do it. That is the reverse of what the most successful people do who recognize.

[00:19:39] No, no, no. I must create and make time to create that next level of opportunity and growth and the money will flow in. Okay. When you combine all these things, these three ideas together, that’s where the magic happens. That’s where the secret sauce lies. When you recognize time is infinitely more valuable than money, time creates compounding interest and time freedom precedes financial freedom.

[00:20:05] It’s going to shift how you make decisions. It’s going to shift how you think about what’s most important now and our prioritization. What does that mean for you? What does that mean for you right now? What choices do you need to make? What actions do you need to take? When you reconsider your relationship with time, if you want to grow in your career, if you want to accelerate that dimension, then stop waiting.

[00:20:34] Stop putting it off. Don’t wait for the next promotion to then get the help you need. Don’t wait until you’re stuck or feel like you can’t get there on your own to get the help you need. Don’t just stay on the current path. If you know that help and support and coaching and tools and community would help you get there faster.

[00:20:53] Take advantage. The lessons of the compounding and of the reality that you make the time and then the money flows in. My program, my coaching, what we do here at the Oasis of courage is a great place to start if you want to accelerate that timeline.

[00:21:11] So click the link in the show notes or send us a text, simple text, one word it’s lifestyle. Lifestyle to the number five, five, four, four, four. Let’s grab some time, see where you’re stuck and how we can hit the gas to accelerate that timeline for you to get to the next level. But more than anything, don’t delay, hesitate, wait, stay in indecision, or get stuck in your head because time is infinitely more valuable than money.

[00:21:39] It compounds all your results. And it’s a thing that we must pursue freedom in first to create the All the other rewards that you really, really want. Send me that text lifestyle to five, five, four, four, four. Start taking action, crush comfort along the way, and let’s do this.