Time Billionaire - 6/14/19

A million seconds equals 11 days, 3 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds. A billion seconds... equals 31.7 YEARS.

The difference between the two is more than just a letter, yet somehow the scale of difference is almost beyond comprehension. 

If we have 31.7 years left in our lives to live, that makes us time billionaires. I first heard of this concept on The Tim Ferris Show with guest Graham Duncan. Graham is the “co-founder of East Rock Capital, an investment firm that manages approximately $2 billion for a small number of families and their charitable foundations.” 

In the podcast, the question was posed: “How much would a 90 year old billionaire pay to go back in time and be 20-years-old again?”

How much would we give to relive certain events, days, moments? That perfect day with a date who became something more, time with your parents, your children, life achievements, parties with friends that never happened again. How much would you pay to be in those moments again decades from now?

The death of a loved one can have an immense impact on how we decide to live and behave. I first noticed this when my father, which at the time I only knew as an authoritarian until my late teens, become more chill and splurge on a new plasma TV one day. I remember thinking this was very unusual. I learned shortly after that a close friend of his that was similar in age suddenly had a heart attack and passed away while on an international business trip. Shortly after, another friend from the same group died from cancer. Death showed up in close proximity to him and the reminder stuck. 

Every year since that day, I’ve seen my father become happier. It was with this tragic news that he learned to appreciate the shortness of life and the short moments that made it. Now he is retired and never takes time for granted. The little things that used to bother him no longer do. He eats, plays ping pong, and travels the world. 

We don’t need to press pause every time we are having an enjoyable moment. However with this perspective, we can learn to enjoy the small things. Each smile, laugh, and joyous interaction, while fleeting, can create a life rich with memories and stories, the things that will remain when we're long gone.

Just like we are billionaires with time, we can also be billionaires in health, friends, and family. What will you do with these billions while you have them? How can we invest this resource so that when we are on our deathbeds, we can say to ourselves, “I did everything I ever wanted to do."

Now hit the replay button. If you had the chance to do it all over again, what would you do differently? What are the mistakes that future you would want you to correct this time around? Where and with whom should we spend our time?

This is where we are today. Let's make it count, fellow billionaires!

Fuck yeah, it’s Friday!

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash