Easy money

Imagine having a debit card that worked like this. Each morning $1,000 would be credited to your account, and you could use the card to spend that amount on whatever you wanted. Then, at the end of the day, any remaining balance on the card would be removed. The next morning, another $1,000 would be added. If you did not spend the money on something during the day, you would lose it. You could not squirrel it away in a savings account for later.

If you had such a card, how would it change your life? If every person had such a card, how would the world be different? Would everyone be able to live in comfort and ease, with no need to work, having plenty of money to buy whatever they wanted? Well, actually, no. Because people would still have to make all that stuff, and deliver all the services, such as electricity generation, necessary to keep the modern world going.

Some people would squander all of their $1,000 each day on trivial and wasteful purchases, knowing that there would be more coming tomorrow. Others would find ways to invest the money so it could continue to create new value. The price of just about everything would go up significantly, because there would be so much money floating around. So that $1,000 each day, if everyone were to receive it, would end up being worth maybe $10 or so in current purchasing power, if that. After a few months, the world would look pretty much the same as it does now. Some people would be living successful, fulfilled lives, and others would not.

The fact is, every person already receives something that’s worth at least $1,000 every morning, and that is a day’s worth of time. That time can be used in just about any way imaginable, yet it must all be used before the end of the day. It cannot be saved for later. Yes, there will be more tomorrow but that doesn’t mean today’s moments are to be wasted.

In the next 24 hours, you will have exactly 1,440 minutes to spend in whatever way you choose. Everyone gets the same allotment, yet look at the extremely wide range of lifestyles that people achieve within that limitation.

What will you do with your allotment today? Will you squander it away on meaningless things, knowing that there will always be more time tomorrow? Or, will you make meaningful use of your precious time while you have it, to create value that can benefit your life and your world for many years to come? The choice is yours, and it is now.