More Important than Money – Paying Myself First With My Time

Each week I put aside money for my savings, investments and other expenses before spending any of it. If there is not enough to pay the bills, I cut down on excess spending on extraneous things, but I always put aside money for my long term investments before anything else.

To make sure I put my money where it needs to be, I pay myself first.

Paying Myself First With Money – But Last With My Time

Though I pay myself first with regards to my investments for the future, one of the areas where I used to constantly pay myself last is my time; my life. I would wake up and try to be efficient in the morning by reading articles online while eating breakfast and listening to podcasts by experts in their field while driving to work. I would arrive at work just as I was fully waking up and hitting my stride.

Every day was begun spending my life working for someone else.

After putting in 8 hours at work, I would drive home, and then, 10 or so hours after my day had begun, I would start to work on my goals. I would work out, practice guitar, read, work on this site, work on programming projects, etc. Oftentimes the last task I had tackled at work would still be on my mind: churning around in my subconscious, spending my “off work” brain cycles while I was trying to focus on my personal projects.

Further, we have the most energy an hour or so after we wake, and the least in the late afternoon/early evening – when our energy wanes and all we want to do is take a nap.

This was no way to spend my hours. Not only was I working on my personal goals last, but I was spending the most productive hours of my day at work. Then when I got home, I was paying myself with the least productive hours of my day!

If You Can Pay Yourself First With Your Money – Why Not With Your Time?

Three weeks ago, I decided to make a switch and altered my life schedule. Instead of staying up late working on personal goals, I decided to wake up 3 hours earlier and spend my most productive hours on myself.

Every morning, while I’m still waking up, I handle any of the life maintenance I need to do – breakfast, email, brushing my teeth, showering (unless I intend to work out, then I’ll shower later). I also do other “low energy” tasks like cleaning my room, checking my email, and processing my RSS feeds.

A nice side benefit of this is that I still get to cap the amount of time I spent on email and reading online in the morning, which we all know will expand to fill whatever time you have available. If I process everything very quickly, I reward myself by checking social media sites.

Then, one hour after I’m awake, when I am at my most productive, I spend two hours working on me.

Some of you may also know that I have an extra 10 hours a week because I’ve outsourced my cooking. By spending a couple hours in the morning productively, I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. 10 hours a week saved not cooking, and 10 hours a week (2 hours per weekday) spent in the mornings working on my goals. Certainly an argument can be made I could spend two hours in the morning AND still cook my own meals – but psychologically, this helps me feel like I’m truly getting my money’s worth and not just avoiding cooking out of pure laziness.

The Benefits Of Paying Myself First With My Time

Zero distractions when it matters most. Since I am up so early, I have no phone calls. Nobody else is awake in the house so it’s silent. Once I hit my two hour block, I don’t check email, IM, etc.
Forced productivity, just like forced saving. If I keep telling myself I’ll work out after work, and then when I get off work I am tired and skip working out, I’ve given myself an excuse to fail. Early in the morning, I can get it out of my way before I have a chance to make any excuses.
My most productive hours are spent on me. As I mentioned previously, I tend to be at my best shortly after waking, and like everyone else I hit a drowsy spell in the afternoon and early evening – typically about 10-12 hours after waking. Rather than trying to work on my goals when my energy has hit a daily low, I now kick them off when my energy is at a daily high.
True separation of time for self improvement versus socializing and networking. One of the biggest challenges I’ve found in setting aside time for my goals is conflicting social plans. In any given week I may attend 1-4 events total on weeknights, and more during the holidays when various friends are back in town. Because I view both activities as productive (networking as well as personal development), I dislike having to choose between the two. By compartmentalizing my time so that my personal time is in the morning I make sure I always have time for my goals first. Later in the day, if I can’t make all the social events, it’s ok – I fit in as much as I can. I can also enjoy them more, knowing that I haven’t sacrificed any time on my personal goals for them.
Clear mind and a fresh start. When I wake up, every day is a new day. I don’t have anything on my mind, and when I sleep it’s a chance to “reboot” my brain before I get started on my personal projects. As opposed to trying to switch gears after work, I get to immediately focus in on personal goals in the morning.

Well That’s Fine If You’re a Morning Person – But It’s Not For Me

I’m not a morning person. All through college, I tried to start my day at 10:30 or later, and in my junior and senior year most of my days started at noon. As my life has filled with more responsibilities though, I’ve had to make adjustments. By waking up early and starting the day working on the most important things in my life, I give my goals the respect they deserve.

It’s true though: I am only one data point. Waking up early may not be for you. My first week was rather unpleasant and I almost stopped, but I have since adjusted and I believe it is for the best. Based on what I’ve read about many other successful people, it sounds like others have also come to the conclusion they work best in the morning, though maybe not for the same reasons.

Your Thoughts?

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts as well – are you most productive in the morning, or at night? Have you made any adjustments to give yourself more time for personal projects?