About work-life balance

Ignorance is bliss, but I am conscious that our lives are finite, there is an end, it may come sooner than one expects.

A while ago I decided I would no longer rent my full, young, adult life to someone else, it didn’t make sense to me. I respect people who value the stability that comes from working a single full time job for someone else, but even after years of working for great people at great places, I realised that it wasn’t for me. I wanted to be the sole proprietor of my time.

Some say time is money, which in part, is true, but I think time is much more valuable than money. In fact, it’s our most valuable currency.

Having full control of my time has made me a happier person, no doubt about it. I still rent my life, I work for different companies as well as my own, I still get to work alongside people who are smarter than me, but, and this is important, I have the opportunity to say yes to things I could not say yes to before. “We haven’t seen each other in years, want to have lunch today? - Yes”, “I have this new project I’m working on, want to bounce some ideas and help me out? - Yes”, “I’ve always admired your work, can we have coffee tomorrow? I want to download your brain”.

I am able to generate the same value I was creating before, but this time I’m the beneficiary. The maths make sense.

Putting a price tag on your hourly rate is an exercise everyone should do. It grounds you, you learn three things, how hard it is to make money, your professional worth and the value of your time. It puts time into perspective. Sitting at your desk for one hour waiting for the clock to strike 6pm is so expensive, you learn that once you know your hourly rate.

Living to the fullest, that’s what’s probably tattooed on my heart. I lost my mother to cancer at a young age, she fought for eight long years. She survived all the medical treatments that existed at the time, she outran medicine until death caught up to her. She lived life to the fullest for her sons until she had no more support to stand on. My mum understood the value of time. She scrounged as much time as she could, never giving up, spending all her energy to be with us, building her family, enjoying life, being close to her friends. Eventually she knew that she would die, but she told us she was at peace with it, and I know it’s because she had the courage to use up her scarce time she had left how she wanted.

Don’t consider this text as a Carpe Diem, do whatever you want and ignore the future. Being the sole owner of your time requires discipline, you report to yourself, that's not an easy task. It’s important to surround yourself with people who question your actions, who put you against the ropes with your career decisions. Debating your decisions will help you see the downsides and understand the risks.
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Sure, I could be making tonnes of money working full time at some great company, but the opportunity cost of a full time job is too great, as I mentioned earlier, time is an infinitely more valuable currency. It’s scarce, it’s finite, it’s impossible to recover. Once you’ve spent it, that’s it.