“Every man is worth just so much as the things about which he busies himself.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII.3
This quote captures, in a single line, what may be the most important principle of time management. It’s the realization that a person is the sum of the actions of his life; that you are what you have done and what you will do. The way you spend your life is entirely your own choice, and the consequence of that choice is your worth — “worth” meaning everything from your monetary worth to your intellectual capacity, from your general happiness in life to the amount of social capital you possess.
We often find ourselves at a place or involved in an activity simply as a matter of chance; we are “going with the flow” and we wind up watching a sitcom on television, or idling on the internet watching some video on YouTube. But if you take this advice to heart, you have to ask yourself, is this how I ought to be spending my time? How does what I am doing right now, or what I plan to be doing next, increase my value as a person, enhance me as a human being, or make me any happier in life?
If you spend a moment in reflection, perhaps you’ll find that you are not making the best use of your time, that it might be better spent learning a new skill, or doing something memorable with family; and ultimately, I think that is the point: we must consciously consider our time as an investment, and we will take more care of how and where we spend it.
Today’s quote is from “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius
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