When Brian Norgard, Entrepreneur and Ex-CPO of Tinder tweeted ‘The most expensive way to pay for anything is with time’ the response was far-reaching. 896 retweets, over 3,000 likes and a barrage of comments.
Perhaps it was the very fact the statement was left so open for interpretation that made the provoking counterresponses all the more interesting.
For me – in the context of my work as an advisor to business leaders – I would agree (or at least recognise) the possibilities of Nogard’s statement. Time is finite. Time is the most valuable resource because it can’t be renewed when wasted and you don’t know how much you have. Applying clarity to my own argument, I understand that much of this is predicated on a certain level of privilege (and ruling out health), but when building and growing a business, time is your most precious – and therefore ‘expensive’ – asset.
As another counter tweet quite intelligently summarised, ‘a good investment of time would be to acquire skills that will support spending your time more wisely in the future.’
This is what I hope to inspire and guide my clients to do.
Spend time well, and its benefits will far out way the ‘cost’.
My previous article on delegation techniques (and how to delegate ‘like a boss’) was one such way I encourage leaders to value their own time. Another is how they approach pricing – the traditional ‘time spent’ pricing structures (which have a natural ceiling) replaced with new structures that value proficiency and expertise. Then of course there is time spent analysing the business – where are you right now, where do you want to be… how and who do you need to get there? Quantity of time is usually not so relevant in comparison with quality of time, but figuring out where to expend that energy is often a huge challenge for business leaders who are faced with the overwhelm of the day-to-day.
Another of Norgard’s tweets simply reads, ‘Own time, or time will own you’.
If time is the most expensive way to pay for anything, then I might add that clarity is quite possibly the cheapest. Know where you’re heading and figure out the most effective way to get there. Align your business goals with your personal ones, then create a plan that works with that in mind.
For more interesting and useful business ‘stuff’, make sure you sign up to receive Rambling On – my bi weekly email aimed at interested business leaders.
Andy.