Time is Your Biggest Asset

When I graduated college, I had no clue what to do next. Life suddenly shifted from moving slowly to racing hundreds of miles an hour down a road I had never seen before. I quickly found myself comparing my situation to the “adults” of the world — people with full-time jobs, kids, money, and what seemed like well-structured lives. I thought I was far behind them, convinced they had everything figured out.

They had the money I thought I wanted, the job titles that others admired, and they weren’t seen as people with no experience. Comparing myself to adults who were 35 and older was my first mistake. The second and more important mistake was assuming they had it better than me.

At 23, I have youth, curiosity, and most importantly, time to make things count. It's rare to hear someone say, “I don’t regret a single thing from my 20s.” Most people wish they had taken more risks, cared less about what others thought, and weren’t so afraid to fail. These adults might have all the financial assets in the world, but the greatest asset is time.

Here’s a great question that proves this point: “If you could trade lives with Warren Buffett, would you?” Buffett is in his 90s now and remains one of the wealthiest people on the planet. Yet the common answer is no. Why? Because he’s 90. No amount of money is worth more than the time we have right now.

In other words, our time is priceless.

Many people over the age of 50 regret not taking more chances, not that they took too many. In our 20s, we’re still figuring life out. We’re not supposed to have all the answers yet, and that’s okay.