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When someone steals money from you, well, that’s a bad thing. But you can earn it back.
When someone steals time from you, they take something far more precious than money. They’ve taken something you can never replace. It’s gone. Forever. Never to be recovered.
My day was stolen today; stolen by a person who also took some of my time earlier this week; stolen by a person who asked for my help and who I agreed to help; stolen by a person who proved herself not to be a person of her word, and who was simply thoughtless and self-centered. I’d much rather she vacuumed thousands from my bank account. I can replace that. But she took a day that I was willing to give even though I didn’t have it to give. The day didn’t help her. In fact, it made her feel badly. She got no benefit from it, and neither did I. And beyond that, I paid the cost so she could steal my day.
I am pretty chapped. Though I’ll get over it, and it won’t matter. Soon. BUT at the moment it matters a lot!
Respect time. Use it wisely. It is an irreplaceable commodity. Take it only after asking. Never steal it.
Keep this in mind as you plan meetings that involve others.
January 22, 20103 responses to “Stealing Money vs. Stealing Time”
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Sam Denief January 22nd, 2010 at 17:47
Interestingly enough, I just got back from a meeting with someone who was kind enough to take time out of their day to mentor me, as well as to give me some business related advice. I now see how significant that was. As a young person, I often don’t realize what even a few hours means and the sacrifices that it entails. Your post today opened my eyes. Thank you for giving me this perspective!
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jbarry January 24th, 2010 at 14:11
Hey Sam, glad you are reading. Keep it up!
Old Geezers like me don’t mind giving time to young people at all. It’s other Old Geezers who steal and waste our time that make us angry.
When I was younger I’d hear people say “I’ve got more money than time” and I thought it was the craziest possible thing to say. How could you ever have more money than time? Well, guess what: today, I’ve got more money than time. And I want to be sure that both of them are invested well.
Thanks for reading and replying to the blog.
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Travis February 11th, 2012 at 19:48
Talking about stolen time. I was conned out of 1600 dollars back in 2009 towards what I thought a legit translation service on a dating site, but the girl who I thought loved me on the other end, never read any of my letters, and the relationship lasted a year!!! I lost an entire year to this romance scam, a year of my twenties, GONE, age 28. I could have been with other women, could have pursued other relations which may have become fruitful, but no, it was wasted to the worst theft of all: STEALING TIME AND MONEY FROM SOMEONE’S LIFE. I actually had the opportunity to start relations with another woman, to enjoy my 20s, but I did not show for date because I was busy being scammed by an agency in Ukraine. I can’t even GET MY REFUND!!! Too expensive. It would cost me more personal grief to refund monies lost to the scam, since it would require me to travel into Ukraine to prosecute, so I just had to mark it as a learning experience.
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