A Letter from Chris Suarez
GO SPEND TIME
I have often talked with our business owners about the difference between spending money on your business and investing money in your business. The distinction is great, even by definition.
When you spend or spent, by definition it means you have “used up, consumed, or exhausted” that money. It is so easy to spend money frivolously without any expectation of a specific result. You can spend your money. You can spend your time.
When you invest, by definition it means you have expended “money with the expectation of achieving a profit or a material result.” Investing is calculated, it's strategic, it's designed. You can invest your money. You can invest your time.
You spend money ON. You invest money IN. Even those prepositions should help us stay focused on business investments, and not business expenditures. Spending money is usually very surface to the business - on it. Investing money is internal to the business - in it.
In business, I would challenge you always to be investing...not spending.
But therein ends our business lesson for today.
In contrast, in life I am going to challenge you to at times be spending…not investing.
Wait. What? How so?
In life, and our relationships, it's important to slow down, take a step back, and make sure that we are spending time with those that matter, with no other purpose but to spend that time with them. Remember by definition, if we spent that time, we “consumed” it, we “used it up”. It isn't coming back, and we aren't waiting for a future return from it. Those of us who have people in our life that call us just because or reach out and check in just because, or spend time connecting with us just because know how good that feels. We must be willing to spend time with people without any expectation of something in return.
When was the last time you did that for someone? When was the last time you experienced that from someone else?
For those of us driving in the fast lane, it's easy to believe that every moment of every day should be strategically designed and accounted for as part of our life plan, our business plan, our wealth plan, or some other plan.
As a New Yorker, I often heard the expression “time is money.” It’s easy to buy into that and make sure every minute of every day is accounted for. The fallacy however lies in the fact that that expression is an equation. It means that time is equal to money. When in reality it isn’t.
We can make money with time.
We can convert time into money.
Both of these statements illustrate the fact that time is our most valuable asset. Time is more valuable than money itself. So time isn’t money.
When we spend time with someone else with no expectation, no purpose, no calculated future return, we are giving that person a part of our most valuable asset. Be willing to spend time. There will always be the right place or right moment or right situation to invest your time with an expected return. More importantly in relationships though is the willingness to spend time.
As I was thinking about the difference between investing and spending time, my family had a difficult week. Amidst everything else going on in the State of Oregon this week, we spent the last few days with our family pet of 14 years. For those of you who know us personally, you understand that our dog was really my wife’s first child. In fact, I bought her that puppy 14 years ago this month after our doctor had told us that we’d never have children. After losing our second child before birth I decided I would buy my wife a puppy. That dog became our firstborn child. And much to the doctor's surprise and our delight, within months of bringing home that dog, my wife was pregnant with what became our first daughter. Eventually we also had a second daughter. But really, they always understood there were three children in this family, with our dog taking the firstborn spot. This week was our puppy’s last week on earth. My family spent time with our dog - doing our best to get her to play, bringing her to her favorite spots, preparing her favorite foods, laying with her in her favorite rooms. That was spent time. There was no investment of time for a future return from our puppy. We knew it was spent time. After all, she wasn’t going to live past this week, so she never could repay us for our time spent. How much more important to be willing to spend that time with the people in our world.
If all of our time is “invested” with an expected result, that is incredibly selfish. If left unchecked our business partners, our friends, our family, our spouses, will begin to realize that we are unwilling to just spend time with them. They will feel our desire to invest that time, and always wonder what our expected return is. “What do they want from me now?” is the question that will surface every time you call, visit, or reach out.
The expression “the gift of time” needs to be such. We don’t give a gift and then expect something back in return. So be willing to spend time with others without any expectation in return.
This week go ahead and plan on spending some time. Nothing else needed. No multiple return expected. Just spend it on someone, with someone, for someone.
Chris
