Lost time is never found again – Benjamin Franklin
Like most things in life, predicting something like your free time is tricky. But it’s not impossible if you put some effort into it. What makes it possible is that there are millions of people that are going before you right now on the same or very similar path. For most people they have a pretty straight forward life with specific milestones that they work towards, for better or worse.
We are born into this world and are highly dependent on our parents. At age 5 we begin kindergarten and progress through school, moving from elementary school all the way through high school. Age 18 can be a pivotal time deciding whether you go to college or begin working. College and continued education will add at least 4 more years, but all paths eventually lead to the workforce. Work lasts for a long time. There’s no way around it. Somewhere around this time you may get married and start having kids. This also lasts for a long time and requires huge amounts of your time. On top of this there are volunteer responsibilities at church and in the community. During this time, say starting at age 35, you have the least amount of free time for yourself. Your free time has gone from abundant and gradually decreased. The good news is is that it will hit its lowest during this phase and gradually start going back up. Kids will become independent, graduate from high school, go onto college and find a job. You will retire from work and hopefully have saved up enough money to enjoy retirement. You will become empty nesters. Free time now is increasing and becoming quite abundant. You have arrived back to where you started.
So what does this have to do with anything? This is obvious and pretty predictable to even young kids. Maybe it’s so obvious that we forget to make plans for it. Like investing we can forget that investing into something yesterday can pay huge dividends later on. Try not squandering your time when you are young when it feels unlimited, instead, do something with that time that will improve your life later on. The investment could be in yourself. Learning or developing a talent. Trying different hobbies and interest to see what you like and don’t like. It could be starting a business to learn and gain experience and maybe put away some extra money. The possibilities are many.
Free time is a precious luxury when you have a plan what to do with it and do it. Being time rich is real. Being time poor is real too. However, free time with no plan and no clue what to do can be a curse and can lead to a lot of trouble and pain.
Time is elusive. When you have a lot of it, use it to your advantage. Like the saying goes, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
Gradual Ascent 