

Time is not money: Thinking about it makes you a better person - JumpCrisscross
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21587195-thinking-about-it-makes-you-better-person-not-worse-one-time-not-money

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morgante
I actually thought this article would be about the psychological impact of
thinking about your time as money.

Personally, I've noticed that knowing and internalizing my hourly rate has
decreased my enjoyment of life. When you contemplate the opportunity cost of
even an hour with friends (>$100) it's hard to have much fun. Has anyone
encountered research on this topic?

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dalek_cannes
Thinking of opportunity costs in general is usually a downer in _any_ context.
It's a "could have" and wherever there is a "could have", a "should have" is
not too far behind. Regret is never a good thing.

Also, a lot of people recognize that time is money, but rarely do they think
that _money is time_. They never use their money to buy back time. Instead
they use it to make _more_ money. And now they have to spend more time
protecting, managing and investing that money because if they don't, they'll
feel bad about the opportunity cost of their money sitting in the bank and
being eroded by inflation.

And enough people know how to earn money, but most people don't know how to
_spend_ it. When I say spend, I don't mean waste or reinvest. Consider: if you
give someone X dollars, he will start by eating better food; give him 2X and
he'll dress better; 3X and he'll buy a better car; 10X, a better house. This
is usually where people's imagination start to fail them. 20x? Er... buy an
even better car and a better house. 50x? Buy two cars and two houses. 100X?
Buy a yatch. 200X? Buy a private jet.

Notice that after the lower levels of Marslow's hierarchy have been satisfied,
people just don't know what to spend their money on. All they can think of is
buying bigger and bigger versions of what they already have. You can't eat
away a $100 million no matter how much expensive food you eat. You can't live
in all the rooms of a 50-room mansion. All you can do is use your money to
make more money or waste it. Not many think of spending it to buy back your
time -- spend it doing something you like.

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sameer_sundresh
It's pretty common to buy things for friends and family, in the hopes of
improving the quality of their lives and the quality and amount of time you
can spend with them (this doesn't always work out as planned).

It's also pretty common to not just buy tangible objects directly for
yourself, but to buy the sort of community you want to live in. Endowing
museums, universities and hospitals, sponsoring the artists and politicians
that suit your tastes (and not just your business interests), etc.

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r00fus
Seems the mirror was also more effective at curbing cheating behaviors than
the thoughts of time (as was the suggestion that the test was a personality
test).

I wonder if knowing that someone is watching you (even if it's yourself doing
the watching) makes you _temporarily_ more motivated to do the effort?

I wonder how this correlates with the study that a picture of eyes watching
prevents theft (same with non functioning security camera) - I can't for the
life of me find it on google.

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ddeck
Staring eyes 'deter' Newcastle University bike thieves [1]

Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting [2]

[1] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
tyne-22270052](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-22270052)

[2]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686213/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686213/)

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tessierashpool
I saw a great presentation with this weird guy who runs his company based
around the idea that all you need to succeed is gratitude and long-term
planning. (Epic oversimplifying paraphrase.) Anyway, here it is:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ZFU4FoNvY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ZFU4FoNvY)

The TLDR is that ever since seeing this presentation, I've made it a rule to
articulate my long-term and short-term goals daily, along with a list of
things I'm grateful for. No stellar life-changing results to report, so far,
at least not that I can think of, but as habits go, it's one I'm glad about.

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auctiontheory
If you liked this story, you'll love Dan Ariey's class on Coursera.

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nyar
time > money

~~~
cypherpunks01
units??

~~~
StavrosK
Seconds and dollars, respectively.

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funthree

        It seems, then, that thinking about time has the opposite effect on people from thinking about money. It makes them more honest than normal, rather than less so. Moreover, the more reflective they are, the more honest they become. 
    

Rewarding people with time instead of with money makes them "better" people...

    
    
        There must be an aphorism in that.
    

Is this some unknown reason why we have prisons, one place where this takes
place, to make people into better people?

