Viewing your time as money
Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents.
He was an inventor, politician, writer, womanizer and more.
But one of my favorite aspects of Franklin is his ability to be quoted, at almost any time.
“A penny saved is a penny earned,” is one of his most herald quotes.
But I much prefer the phrase, “Time is money.”
Franklin was onto something when he said that. Just imagine how productive people would be if they treated their time like money.
We’d be so much more efficient.
But this efficiency is not limited to our work or academic lives. It can be applied to every aspect of our existence — academic, professional, social, athletic, etc.
There is an episode of the television show “The Office” when Holly of Human Resources is running a meeting about “office ethics” and, aside from stealing office supplies, the issue Holly wanted to drive home was “time theft.”
Time theft, according to Holly, is when a worker spends excessive time doing non-work related activities — whether it be hanging out by the water cooler, flirting with reception or being Michael Scott, is all wrong.
I notice that I am a time thief. I steal time all the time. But unlike Jim, Pam, Dwight and Michael, I don’t steal an exorbitant amount of time from work, but from myself.
Mr. Franklin would find me an embarrassment to efficiency sometimes.
But I am trying to improve. I am trying to take heed of Holly’s “don’t be a time theft” message.
Another anti-time wasting slogan I endorse is the Minutemen’s “we jam econo.”
The Minutemen was a 1980s punk band from San Pedro, Calif. known for its minimalist lifestyle.
“We jam econo,” according to bassist Mike Watt, means they not doing things in excess.
In an interview with Chris Bilton for Brooklyn, Vegan Watt said, “It’s not just a slogan. It’s a credo. Because, coming from working people, and there ‘aint a lot of materialism, you could make things happen.”
This is what everyone should do. We should all make things happen without having to break the bank or waste too much time.
Punk rock in the ’80s was very efficient and achieved more than anyone ever thought it could.
Rockers did it with almost no money. Watt says they did it “econo.” I say they did it by spending too much time at the water cooler.
Holly wanted the Scranton branch to be like the Minutemen.
She wanted them to treat every minute like it was a dollar they were spending.
Time is money.
We should all strive to live like the Minutemen.
We should all try to look at what we have and make the most of it.
The Minutemen lived the American dream by definition.
They looked at their capital (instruments, a van and gut-wrenching determination) and achieved their dreams.
To live “econo” is to live the American dream. Let’s take what the Minutemen did and run with it.
