3365: [Part 1] The Only Resource More Precious Than Time by David Cain of Raptitude on Productivity & Well-Being

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_01]: This complex finance talk is very challenging. Do I get my depot ever?

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_02]: But you already have a depot.

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_01]: No.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, you have the Vodafone Gigadepot.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_01]: That's right! And I have myself in the hand how big my depot is.

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Now with the Vodafone Gigadepot and the data volume of the data in the next month. Go on in the 5G network of Vodafone. Vodafone. Together we can.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Living Daily, The Only Resource More Precious Than Time, Part 1 by David Cain of Raptitude.com and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Happy middle of the week Wednesday. Welcome to one of the only podcasts in the world where articles are narrated to you for free.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_00]: A little bit of positivity every day which adds up after time. And sometimes I read longer posts that I split up into two. That's the case today.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. I'll read the first half and then finish the rest for you tomorrow.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: So with that, let's get right to part one and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: The Only Resource More Precious Than Time, Part 1 by David Cain of Raptitude.com

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: When I was a teenager, I might have identified money as my most valuable resource.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that's extraordinarily naive. I mean, it did always help to bring me the things I wanted.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Freedom, influence, power, comfort, beer. It's so versatile, you can do just about anything with it.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: More money meant more ease, more pleasure, more happiness.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: As I got older and busier, I learned, as many do, that time trumps money by a long shot.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: One can use time not only to make money, but also to build the capacity for making more money in less time

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: by improving skills and setting up streams of income.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And not only that, but extra time gives you the temporal space to enjoy the privileges and powers you already have.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: More time means more freedom, more options, and less stress.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike money, everyone is ultimately on a level playing field when it comes to time.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: We all get the same allowance of 24 hours a day.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Just as there are ineffective ways of investing your money, there are ineffective ways of investing your time.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: If we all have the same amount of this essential resource,

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: why do some people achieve so much and others so little?

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Where we start from in terms of economic class, skills, and education certainly has something to do with it.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: But there are just as many riches-to-rags stories as there are rags-to-riches stories.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, there is another factor at play here.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: We could argue that some have more free time.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, it's those without so many commitments and obligations

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: who have the distinct advantage as far as how much they can accomplish.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think free time is a fallacy.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, there is no free time.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: We use all of it.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned in a previous post, we all fill the same 24 full hours a day

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: whether you pass your days running six companies simultaneously

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: or eating Pringles and watching reruns of that 70s show.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: The myth of obligation.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Free time is just time in which we don't feel compelled to do a particular thing.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: For example, you probably don't think of your work shift as free time

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: because you probably feel compulsion to do certain activities during that time.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Probably activities your boss wants you to do.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The long stretch between when you normally go to bed and when you normally wake up

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: is likewise cordoned off as unavailable.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: But this is only a mental boundary.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: The truth is you always have the choice of what to do with that time.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of working from 9 to 5, you could play mini-golf between the cubicles.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of going to bed at 11, you could wander the streets in your pajamas and bare feet.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: These aren't necessarily the smartest or most rewarding choices,

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: but you do always have full liberty as how you spend your time.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: The world will not come to an end if you do something unexpected with time

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: that isn't previously labeled free.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Obligation is really nothing more than a nagging feeling of some kind.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It's guilt or self-doubt or some other emotion.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: It isn't a real binding force.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: No matter what we've promised others or ourselves,

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: we all choose which commitments we will fulfill and which we won't,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and life goes on either way.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So free time is an illusion.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: It's all free and paradoxically all taken.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Even those who leave little time uncommitted can still experience a frustrating lack of productivity.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever known someone who is constantly busy,

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: toiling on multiple projects and working multiple jobs,

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: yet they never get rich or become happy or fulfill their dreams?

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of us have felt this kind of perplexity ourselves at one time or another.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Busy, busy, busy all day long,

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: with little to show for it in terms of hard results.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I feel behind the eight ball on a project,

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I often resolve to invest two or three straight hours on it.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes, for some reason,

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: by the end of that couple hours,

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not much further along.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet other times,

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I can get incredible amounts done in 20 or 30 minutes.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: So it seems my time is just worth more in some instances than others.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: What makes the difference?

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Just like money,

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: we value time only because we value the things we can exchange it for.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Money would be entirely useless to us if we were unable to exchange it for something.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So by itself,

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: it has no real value.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Time is no different.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We like to have spare,

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: uncommitted time because then we can spend it on something we actually want.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: We want enjoyable experiences.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: We want our work to be completed.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: We want our skills to be improved.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: We want our lives to be in order.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Time is the currency we spend in exchange for these rewards.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: But as we've learned from countless unproductive workdays and boring meetings,

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: the buying power of time fluctuates more wildly than that of money.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine being confined to an empty concrete cell for one year.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: How much value would you place on your time then?

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: You probably wish you had less time because in that dismal situation,

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: there are a few ways to exchange that time for something you value.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So your most precious resource is not time.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Not quite anyway.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The value of your time fluctuates greatly depending on how you end up spending it.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: How much value you get out of it depends on your application of the real precious resource,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: your attention.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Your attention is just as finite as your time,

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: but it is the crucial ingredient that actually converts your time to something of use.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: If you decide to spend an hour of time working on a project,

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and your attention is only focused on the work itself for half of that hour,

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: you've only generated a half hour of complete work with your hour.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: What about that other 30 minutes of attention?

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Where did it go?

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's certainly spent on something, probably a number of things.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Devices and people grab our attention quite easily.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Twitter, RSS feeds, colleagues, family members, texts.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: People commonly sequester themselves from these attention hogs while they work

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: by locking their door, turning off their phone, or closing their web browser.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: These measures are useful for external distractions,

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: but unfortunately the worst culprit doesn't need a phone to get a hold of you,

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and it followed you in before you locked the door.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: To be continued.

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to part one of the post titled,

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: The Only Resource More Precious Than Time, by David Cain of raptitude.com.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you to David.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: The time versus attention thing reminds me of Parkinson's Law,

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: which basically says that work expands and fills the amount of time we allotted for it.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It's really weird how it seems to always work out that way.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: So for example, if you know you need to be out of the house by 7 a.m. or a few minutes later,

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: every time it feels like we got ready and got out the door in that amount of time.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: We might be a little late here and there, but rarely are we done early.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like if we thought we had 30 minutes to get ready,

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: well, it will take those 30 minutes, maybe a little longer.

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And that could be because we know we have more or less time,

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: so we concentrate more or less, which comes back to attention.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: If we have an hour instead,

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: we might zone out or look at our phones here and there,

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and the next thing you know, an hour has passed.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: It's funny how that works.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And again, that's a real thing.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It's called Parkinson's Law.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But distractions like our phones are not the only thing taking our attention away.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll hear what David calls the biggest thief on tomorrow's episode.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll leave it there for today.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for being here and listening every day,

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll be back tomorrow to finish up this post,

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: where your optimal life awaits.