Not sound dramatic but we are only given so much time in life and what we spend that time on shows what we care about, what is important to us, and more often then not how much wisdom and self-discipline that we possess. I remember when reading The Millione Fastlane by MJ DeMarco for the first time (great book, pick it up if you haven’t already) and he talked about valuing your time and how it’s the one resource you can’t get back.
You used the example of people who will wait in a line for a free bucket of chicken for hours, all to save 6.99$ or something like that. And how these people don’t value their time and how one thing that those who make good money is absolutely value their time. There are plenty of other good lessons in that book but that one was that stood out to me especially at the time, and especially because I figured money was greater than time.
But as counter-intuitive as it sounds, that’s poor man’s thinking. Time is more valuable than money and is in fact our most valuable (not to mention non-renewable) resource. So it pays to think about how you’re spending it. Here I want to address something that I see many doing that shows that they are not valuing their time as much as they could/should. Granted some of this you have to learn on your own but I wanted to lay out some things here as well.
What’s Minor & What’s Major?
First off it’s good to figure out what’s minor and what’s major in life. Those that are on the path of self-improvement or whatever you want to call it are generally moving in the right directions. So for example just the fact that you’re reading this site means you’re already above most out there as far as heading in the right direction goes. But with that being said even with self-improvement and looking to learn and become the “best versions of ourselves” or live the best life possible there are many errors we can fall into.
And the first is thinking minor things are major and that major things are minor. A quick example. Many guys focus exclusively on how to “get girls/a girl” because to them this is their most burning need. And so they focus on this often exclusively. They read all the books, practice their “game” at bars and clubs, approach X amount of girls, spend time sprucing up their hookup app profiles, make a fake life on Instagram, and so on and so forth. All for a little bit of pussy.
I wrote a whole article on why this is counter intuitive but it’s something I see a lot. The truth of the matter is having a lot of options with women is more a side effect of focusing on the big things in life (and understanding a few key principles). Like the old saying goes “You’ll never lose women by chasing money but you’ll lose plenty of money by chasing women” not to mention the investment of time. That’s because money is a major in life and women are a minor.
What’s Your Time Spend In The Majors & Minors?
So that was an example that comes up a lot with this site but there are others that are even worse. At least “game” or whatever you want to call it can (though often doesn’t) lead to some sort of self-improvement where others do not. For example you know the guy that can quote every sport statistic, watches every game (plays none), and pretty much knows the ins and outs of his sport in general? That’s a guy majoring in a minor.
Or what about the guy who is an expert at video games but doesn’t get paid for them. Spends his time getting better and better with little to nothing to show for it? This isn’t to say keeping track of sports of playing video games are bad in and of themselves. Just to look at your time spend in each. Are you majoring in the minors? Is your time spend with “getting girls”, watching sports, playing video games or whatever else greater then you’re time spent making money, developing yourself, and becoming the man you want to be in life?
There are things that should be the focus on your life and there are things that are nice but should be a “side part” to your life. If your life is falling apart or not where you want it to be then it’s very likely you’re majoring in the minors instead of majoring in the majors. If you want to end up in a place where you want to be most of your time will be devoted to the majors and leftover time will be devoted to the minors.
Remember time isn’t renewable so spend it wisely.
