3. Utilize the Power of Compounding
I’m sure that everyone reading this understands the power of compound interest. When you invest money you earn interest. Then you start earning interest on the money you earned from interest. Over many years this continues to compound and eventually leads to a very large sum of money. The same concept applies to time. If you invest time by working hard when you’re young, you put yourself in a position to succeed that will continue compounding for the rest of your life. If you waste time when you’re young, you can’t make up for it later because you’ve lost the opportunity to utilize the power compounding.
Many people my age fail realize this, in fact I didn’t, or at least I didn’t act on it, until fairly recently. The primary reason is that we’re trapped in the childish mindset. As a child, your only responsibility is entertaining yourself. You needn’t worry about investing your time because Mommy and Daddy are there to take care of you and they’re usually happy as long as you stay out of trouble. These days many young adults ride the childish mindset straight through college. After graduation we’re expected to adopt the adult mindset (and the responsibility of investing our time) instantaneously. A lot of people don’t get it, and every year they waste trying to extend the college days is an opportunity that can never be replaced.
Many people think their time isn’t valuable when they aren’t working, so they throw it away on activities that have a poor return on investment and don’t build for the future. The truth is, no one else is going to consider your time valuable until you do. If you want to acquire the wealth that will provide the freedom to live your ideal lifestyle, start thinking of every decision as an investment. Nothing is insignificant.
One mental model that can help you make better decisions is imagining that your life is a corporation and you’re the only employee. If you were the CEO of John Doe Incorporated, and were obliged to maximize profit on behalf of investors, what would you make yourself do? You’ll find that this sort of analysis simplifies many decisions and increases return on investment.
不要浪费时间，因为这是生命的组成。
你经常听到投资回报率（ ROI ）这个词，通常与商业和金融有关。目标（显然）是对你投资的钱获得最大限度的回报。当你开始考虑把时间而不是金钱作为一种投资时，这个概念更深刻。
看电视，你是在为娱乐投资，如果沉迷于电视剧，你的投资就不明智，对你付出的时间的回报的收获就少。
很多时候，时间投资比金钱投资更有价值。挣钱总是有机会的，但是时间一去不复返。把时间看作商品，你所有的行动都是投资，它会改变你每天的决定。
我们花费时间的方式多种多样：工作，吃饭，睡觉，锻炼，娱乐等等，这些事情都很重要。当我们在一个领域投入过多时，别的地方就会不足，我们就会给自己找麻烦。我们投资时间的关键就是以一种平衡的方式，在每一领域，形成一种能产生回报的，快乐的生活。
决定如何投资时间是一个艰难的任务。不像做生意，有百分率或电子表格参考。我们只能依靠经验和直觉。这方面我也不是个专家，但是我有几点用来指导我的决定的原则。liuxuepaper.com