Time is the New Money

I hope everyone is having a good summer. My book, Every Night’s Friday Night, is enjoying a successful first few months since being published, and I just finished a reading at Book Passage, one of the Bay Area’s most successful independent bookstores. We had good attendance and I signed many books. Thanks to the friends who came and brought their friends!

The book is also now at 4 new locations in the Bay Area at Books, Inc. If you’re in the South Bay in Palo Alto or Campbell (close to San Jose) or in Alameda or Berkeley in the East Bay, you can now get your copies in those locations. Those who prefer to shop online or who aren’t in the Bay Area can get your copies on the website EveryNightsFridayNight.com.

The book just received a new review giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars from the San Francisco Book Review. Many thanks to them for saying that the book is, “Extremely informative for all ages, even those who are not in the third stage of life or close to retirement yet. The author interviews a fascinating group of people who gave tips to others who are retiring.”

For those who are familiar with Goodreads.com, it’s also been reviewed here. I’d appreciate anyone who has read the book to review it on Goodreads. This is also a great website to become more familiar with new books and to track what you and others are reading.

This month I’d like to touch on one of the topics I discussed in the last reading which received a good reaction. It’s Chapter 8 in the book which I named, “Time is the New Money.” This discusses my point of view (and that of many of my interviewees) that time is the asset you need to value as much, if not more than money at this stage of life. Many people worry about whether they’ll have enough money to retire or work less than they do now. This is critical to focus on, however, I also worry you could run out of time to do the things you want to do when you’re still feeling healthy and energetic enough to do them if you keep working full time for too long. It’s easy to forget to create a plan for how to manage the most valuable resource you can’t make any more of - time. Often there is no choice and you have to keep working to live and pay the bills or you love your job and can't imagine not doing it. But, start planning for a time when you won't feel that way or are able to try something new.

This is the point in your life to only invest time doing things that are meaningful to you and spending time with people who nourish you. Learning to say “no” to things you don’t want to do and people you don’t want to spend time with is difficult at any stage of life. It’s easy to feel obligated to do things that are not worth the investment of time you make in them. You’re used to being required to focus on things and be with people you might not choose to be with because at work, in your children’s school or at social settings you don’t feel you have the choice to say “no.”

This is a new day and a time to make new decisions. It’s an opportunity to let go of the obligations you can, simplify your daily lives and have more time to focus on the things and people who matter the most. It also lightens the stress load on your body and contributes to long-term health. This requires making decisions about what will make the most impact in your life, the lives of others and your community. You often hear people say they’re busier now than they were when they were working. The question is are they busy doing the things they really want to do to create purpose and meaning in their lives and contribute to others and the collective good of society?

It’s important to have fun, relax and do what you want once you don’t have to do what others require of you. This is also a time to focus on new learning and experiences and make changes you might have liked to make earlier in life when you were busy working or raising a family. Now is the time to decide what’s next and who you want to be in this stage of your life. Don’t miss maximizing this valuable asset.

Chapter 8, Time is the New Money, also covers ideas for managing your money, how to make changes in your life if you choose to reduce expenses and ways to explore new places to live or spend time. Enjoy the rest of your summer!