The Big Lie: Time Is Money

You’ve all heard it. It’s the big lie. Time is far more valuable than money. You can replace money or make more money. Have you ever tried to replace time or make more time? If you run out of money, you can usually make more. Have you tried making more time? Time can and should be far more beneficial to your life than money.  

There are ways to create more time for you and for others. Think of some of the ways and tools we use to improve our use of time. E-mail, computers, faxes, direct deposits, electronic transfers of money and cellular phones are a few things that are obvious. Others are so common we seldom even think about them such as electricity, automobiles, trucks, airplanes and running water.  

If you really want to make “BIG” money forget about money and focus on things that create more efficient use of time. There are many opportunities. Our court system does it like it always has and asks the pubic, attorneys, law enforcement, jurors, as well as court employees to show up on Mondays for the call of the calendar. Have they not heard of electronic scheduling programs and a more efficient use of time? Some parts of our health care system are as bad. Why tell all patients to come at the same time and make 20 appointments at 9:00 AM and 20 at 2:00 PM. It makes no sense to bring 20 sick people and family members into one room to wait sometimes for hours. Polls show that time is one of our most cherished possessions. Why not do all we can to use time efficiently?  

In our industry the businesses and people who are successful believe in the value of time. A day lost is lost forever. It’s gone! Gone forever. There’s no getting it back. An opportunity lost often also is lost forever. Whether it is just saying the right words to someone or making a sale, the opportunity may only present itself once.  

There are many parts of our industry that have created opportunities for time saving including development, design, financing, customer selections, and closings. Ask the contractor on any road building project job why it takes so long and the answer is always that the Department of Transportation (DOT) controls the process. Design build projects that are turned over to private firms always go faster at less cost. In Europe they often use electronic signage to direct traffic rather than flagmen. I suggested to a highway contractor that we import and sell such devices here. His response was that DOT would never approve such a device. Do you ever wonder why DOT uses so many single axel trucks while contractors almost always use larger trucks? Could it have to do with hiring two drivers when one could haul as much?  

Design build also is a faster and more efficient process in residential and other building construction. We spend a lot of time working on designs and processes to save the field people, customers, sub-contractors and sales people time and to create more efficiency.

If fact, that’s what I do. Most of my efforts are to improve processes. Public buildings also can be built more efficiently and at a lower cost when governmental agencies and lawmakers decide to allow it.  

Customer selections have become a much simpler process. Some high-end custom builders use Internet based programs that enable the client to shop worldwide. Often the price is no object. It’s finding what they want. We use a much simpler process that enables our customers to make almost all their selections in two days. This not only saves the customer time but also enables us to process purchase orders and work orders much more efficiently, thus lowering our cost and the customer’s cost.  

The sales process has taken advantage of many of the time saving devices and methods.

With instant access to credit scores loan approvals are processed quicker. Loan closing documents and even money are being transferred electronically thus reducing time.  

Whatever you are doing, remember the value of time and make the most of it.    

Information from Jay Conrad Levinson was incorporated in this article.