Are your friends lying, too?

I often hear people say, “I don’t watch much T.V.”

I don’t believe it.

According to a recent article, they are lying.   On average, Americans spend 34 hours a week watching live television.

I hope you are not among them.

I spent a long time in my book Via, showing you how to save time.  Readers of my book are often interested in learning Latin.

Latin is a time commitment.  As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  Turns out, you are not going to learn the language of Rome in a day either.  You are going to need time.

Where are you going to find the time?

Turn the T.V. off.

Maybe you are not interested in Latin.  Fine.

Turn the T.V. off and use the time to start a business, learn a new skill, or get a part time job.

Let’s assume you earn $10 an hour at that job.

To determine the value of your time, plug the following variables into this calculator:
http://investor.gov/tools/calculators/compound-interest-calculator

I’ve created an example for you:

Current principle: $1
Monthly addition: $1,360 ($10 an hour x 136 hours a month).
Years to grow: 10 (I picked a random number).
Interest rate: 5% (Probably reasonable if you invest profits back into your business).

The future value:

$205,272.84

Your time matters.  The winner of this weekend’s football game does not.

My tip for you this week is this:

Use this calculator to determine the value of your time.  Then turn off the T.V.

Instead, learn something.  Make something.  Sell something.  Do something!

Have a Happy Saturday!