by Patricia Gilliam

Created on: January 19, 2009

Though most people realize that time is a much more valuable and precious resource than money, it can sometimes be difficult without the right knowledge to shift your career or business life from the pursuit of more income to the pursuit of more time. The two do interact and relate to each other, but it has a lot to do with the ways you make money and how your business is structured.

From an income standpoint, the best way to invest your time (as opposed to spending it) is to develop some form or forms of passive income. Passive income is basically ongoing income that results from you setting up a business system. This can be a very simple or complex process, depending on the type of business.

An example of a simple business system is the article you're reading right now. I only have to write it once, which does take up some of my time. For simplicity's sake let's say it takes me an hour. Now I can go and get a job where I'm making $15 an hour, so why would I want to do this instead? Because over my lifetime this article will make me more than $15. It won't happen overnight, but the key to it is I don't have to keep writing this article over and over again to make money from it. I wrote it once, and I'll get income from it for the rest of my life. I don't have to sit and watch it. I just go on to the next project or article.

With passive income sources, you're setting something up and moving on a lot. Even if each little project only brings in a small amount of money, your income builds with the more projects you do. Eventually, all of those little incomes can result in what most people make at a full-time job. That is when you've reached the point that you've basically freed up your time. Something that would take 40 hours a week for a person to generate at their job you can maintain in less than five hours, once you've done all the initial work.

Sometime like this still takes most people several years to accomplish, but the long-term results are worthwhile. There are a lot of opportunities out there, not just writing. The main part is just getting your head around the overall concept and why you would want to do it because initially you think you're doing a lot of work for very little reward. Time is the factor that most people don't think about because we're typically not taught delayed gratification and patience.

Jobs are structured for immediate gratification, but with few exceptions you rarely get an ongoing reward from your efforts. You're doing the same work over and over again at a flat rate that is soon gone unless you save or invest it, with investing being a form of passive income as well if you do have surplus income.

Lastly, don't measure the worth of your life in a set amount of dollars. You'll undervalue yourself in a very major way. Research and develop a plan to earn your time and freedom back and get out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle that many people find themselves in because they don't know there are other options. Education combined with persistence and desire can help get you the life you'd like to have. Good luck and best wishes to you!

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