TIME

My holiday "treat" last night was a chance to talk with a good friend of mine (let me just call her Joan). She had moved out of state over a year ago and has been working hard to establish a new life for herself with her son.

After getting off of the phone, I happen to reflect on a time many years ago when we were riding in her car and we needed to stop for gas. It was during the time when gas had gone up a lot in price and she remembered that she had a coupon for a particular place which we headed to.

When we got there the place was backed up with cars, and after sitting there for a considerable time I asked to see this coupon. She showed it to me and explained that she was going to save 5 cents per gallon. We waited a little longer and I asked her how much gas she thought her car took and she told me about 20 gallons. After a quick calculation, I asked her if I gave her the dollar she would "save" could we go to a place I new with the same price on gas but no line. She looked at me strangely and then, holding up the coupon, stated, "but I have a coupon". By that time we had been there for almost 30 minutes and still hadn't reached the pump. I just smiled and gently shook my head.

A friend of mine named Larry was in New York for a week with a group of his business partners and they all decided that they wanted to go see the Empire State building during one of their off days. Upon reaching the building they noticed that there was a LONG line of people waiting to just get into the building which stretched back for many blocks.

Now Larry is one of those type of very successful business person who didn't get where he is by just standing and waiting and so he and his partners walked up to the front of the line and asked the guy at the door how long it would take to get from the back of the line to the front door. The guy told him 3 and a half hours.

Larry thought about this for a moment and asked him was there ANY faster way of getting him and his friends to the top of the Empire State building. The gentleman said yes. He could buy an Express ticket. Larry asked how much that would cost. The guy told him an extra $20 a piece. It only took Larry a moment to pay the extra $20 per head and in less than 20 minutes he and his entire party were escorted in, and whisked to the top of the building by elevator (the others were taking the stairs) They spent a considerable amount of time taking in the beautiful skyline of New York city , and enjoying the view. They took lots of pictures and had an awesome time!

On their way back down Larry took note of the crowd and for all practical purposes it had barely moved at all.

Now it could be said that there is a BIG difference between 5 cents and $20 especially when money is tight and I would be the first to agree with you. However in both cases the key point is TIME. In the case of my friend in the car if she had seen a dollar blowing in the breeze across the street she wouldn't make too much of an effort to go chasing after it. However she was willing to spend her time waiting in her car to "save" that amount.

Larry on the other hand simply divided 3.5 hours by $20 and realized his TIME was WORTH more than $6 and some change an hour. After all most people these days, (especially those who can afford to live in New York or visit there) would never settle to work for $6 bucks an hour for 40 hours a week, but, because they didn't take time to calculate it out, were doing just that.

These days people put a lot of stock in the money they have, need, and want, and I quite understand that. It's a commodity that we all need. I would be quite happy if I won the lottery tomorrow for some untold millions but I realized, during my journey from Surviving to Thriving, that the commodity that we all have that will ALWAYS be more precious then money is time. Our own time! Why because even if I won the lottery tomorrow all my riches could not add one more hour onto my day. Not even one more minute. When it's spent, it's spent! I can go to my boss and negotiate some overtime but I can't go to him and negotiate some EXTRA time. You see, no matter how successful he is he just doesn't have it to give.

So if there is a secret I've learned in the last year about Surviving not just surviving it would be to place the highest value on your time. Because once a person (whether they have RP or not) realizes that their time is actually worth millions an hour in potential success and happines, that is when they will see their life truly changin for the better.

Rick - TnjS