Time as the Currency of Life

Two days ago, I explored the importance of Time, from an individual's point-of-view. I mentioned that we can view and treat Time as a Friend or Time as an Enemy; and that Time belongs to those who truly value it. I ended my blog saying that I personally treat Time as a Best Friend & a Trusted Ally. That is my personal metaphor for Time.

Let me start this blog entitled Time as the Currency of Life with a quote from American poet Carl Sandburg: "Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let others spend it for you."

If we are to stretch our thinking and imagination beyond the Individual level, and visualize Time and its usage collectively from a Societal level, than surely the Society where collectively its citizens and inhabitants leverage, invest and use Time well, surely that Society, its citizens and inhabitants will achieve much more in their lives individually and as a whole collectively; and it will have greater numbers of happier, healthier, more accomplished citizens/inhabitants with well-lived lives than other societies, all other things being equal?

Two years ago, I read a phenomenal article by Behavioral Economist Alan Krueger, Behavioral Psychologist Daniel Kahneman (and 3 other notable researchers David Schkade, Norbert Schwarz and Arthur A. Stone).

The article had a strong impact on me and is entitled National Time Accounting: The Currency of Life. The paper talks about the need to appreciate, measure and positively influence/impact both Objective and Subjective Well-Being in a Society and its citizens/inhabitants; and suggests that policy makers & policy leaders should measure, account for, consider seriously and impact positively how Society and its citizens/inhabitants collectively and individually view, treat and use Time. It is a seminal and important article which all policy makers and policy leaders should read and be cognizant of. The paper offers quite a few important ideas and some applications for policy making, nation building and society development.

You can find it here http://www.nber.org/chapters/c5053.pdf. Do have a read and form your own hypotheses/conclusions.