“I took a new job—it pays less but I can work as much overtime as I want to make up the difference.”
“I paid a little more for the car than I was comfortable with but I can make it up by working Saturdays.”
I know there are times when overtime is necessary. Maybe there are problems at work and you’re behind. Or, maybe you’re short-staffed at work because someone quit or they’re out on vacation. Sometimes, things happen at home and you need to pay some extra bills.
What I find disturbing is seeing people choosing careers and lifestyles that force or depend on long hours at work when they have alternatives that offer more free time. I know, everyone has their reasons—I just don’t understand most of them.
Those two quotes up there—I’ve heard variants of them a lot lately. I don’t understand why you would choose to have less free time. Time is the only thing that we have that we can’t make more of; we can’t get it back after we’ve lost it. Yet people choose things like new cars or career changes that guarantee less free time. Why is this? Is it something new or is it something that has been around since the monetary system started?
Maybe some people just don’t know what to do with themselves when they’re not working. I don’t believe that it’s just greed or desire for more money. If that’s the case then why not go all in and get into investment banking or something extremely lucrative. Don’t just hang out in the blue-collar world and work overtime to keep up with your white-collar neighbors. It doesn’t matter; no one looks back on their lives and wishes they bought more new cars or had a bigger living room when they were 40 years old.
Get out—go fishing, hiking, take your dog for a long walk, take the kid out for a bike ride. Remember, time is our only non-renewable resource.