Trading Money for Time: 10 Ways to Reclaim Your Hours in 2023

What do Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, and Leonard from Big Bang Theory have to do with making you a happier lawyer?

They were all in this movie called In Time. In a nutshell, everyone lived to be 25, and then you had to work and spend time to stay alive. Then, run out and...poof...ya dead!

It might have been science fiction, but it FEELS so real to me on the day to day with talking to lawyers. We are constantly looking for more time (and more money, but for this newsletter...time is our focus)

So while time is money might be a common saying, I think we underplay the opposite. Money can buy time. Not in the same direct physical way as this movie, but still.

So here are my 10 tips to use money get more time:

1) Hire more employees

Duh - this is the easy one.  

Employees should do two things:

Make you money

Save you time

         ( or ideally both)

Just remember, it will take you some extra time to train them, BUT you will never have MORE time if you don't hire people now.

2) Bring in the computers

This could be automation and AI

Or booking links

Or apps that make things faster.

A $ 5-a-month app that saves you an hour is GOLD.

Yes, make sure you have a smaller tech stack, but still...there is a TON of tech that you pay a little to make things happen faster, which has VALUE!

And remember, the technology runs 24/7, doesn't get sick, go on vacation, need PTO, etc. Especially at the beginning, when you're a smaller firm, a computer might be your best friend.

To be fair, I am biased, and this is a LOT of what we do for firms with our CRM systems to support the marketing efforts - if you struggle with this, let me know.

3) Pay for convenience

This can happen in services like travel agents or personal assistants. You might even get a BETTER vacation or experience by having an expert's eyes on it.

But it also applies to goods, like buying a double dishwasher, so you don't have to put dishes away. Instead, you move them to the other dishwasher.

Or get a larger washer/dryer to do bulk laundry.

Paying more to have things done easier and quicker is a HUGE time saver.

4) Get an office closer to your house or a house closer to your office - commuting is a time suck

Even if you listen to great audiobooks and podcasts in your car...being 10 minutes closer each way is 20 minutes a day, 100 minutes a week, is 5000 minutes a year. Or 3.5 DAYS every year spent in the car...driving to work...and then home from work.

And you KNOW I am cool with your office being in your house IF that works for you.

5) Pay for experts - hire people to teach you skills faster than doing it for free online

More or less, the ENTIRE collection of humanity's knowledge is online. Most of it is FREE between library websites, youtube, SSRN, and others.

That being said...if you can pay $0 to learn something in 15 hours or $500 to learn it in 5 hours - which is worth more to you?

Sometimes, paying for experts (or hiring them) instead of taking the time to learn their knowledge is the BEST way to save time.

This could be as simple as spending a few $100 on a personal trainer each week instead of spending 5 hours designing your own workout.

6) Buy things that last

AKA, don't buy cheap shit.

If you follow me on Facebook, you might see my couch ordeal (or at least the beginning of it) 

The second half of the story is that I STILL have this couch in my garage. I am STILL trying to explain to the company with the free return policy that they need to pick up the couch. Most recently, they asked me the dimensions of THEIR box they sent to ME. So they could coordinate shipping for their couch.

We have since ordered ANOTHER couch (yes, I am 100% aware this is a first-world problem). My wife was between 2 couches, a $3000 couch that she liked but was concerned wouldn't hold up long enough. Or a $6000 couch that was guaranteed for ten years.

Even if the more expensive couch lasts less than twice as long, I am still saving the TIME (it has literally been MONTHS of couch shopping) needed to buy another couch. So the more expensive one is a better use of my money to save my time.

7) Outsource your chores

Laundry

Yard work

Cooking

Cleaning

etc

Is there a chore you enjoy doing? Awesome! Do it, enjoy it, and maybe listen to a podcast or audiobook during it (now that you have lowered your commute time!)

Is there a chore you don't enjoy doing? Then, hire someone else to do it. People will do basically ANY task for you for a price.

PRO TIP:

All of these people you hired to handle things you didn't want to do (and instead put the money towards supporting them and their business and their family and their life - thank you for your sacrifice!), what are the odds that if they knew what you do, they might send you a case?

If they sent out 1 case a year...would it cover you hiring them for a whole year? PLUS the fact that you didn't spend the time doing it!

It can be a no-brainer IF you do it right. And treat them nicely. And find the right people.

8) Pay to make fewer decisions 

This one could even save you money too!

Buy clothing that all goes together. My wife says this is called a capsule wardrobe.

Look, I am not advocating being Jim Harbaugh, Steve Jobs, or Tyson Mutrux.

I am not saying you wear the SAME thing every day.

But, for me...a pair of brown sandals, khaki shorts, and a white undershirt goes with EVERY SINGLE other shirt I own or will EVER own (I think).

Voila! I saved that much time by spending a bit more to buy six pairs of slightly different khakis,

I also started 75 hard this week, so I went on a diet. In this case, I eat the same food over and over again, so I make it or buy it in bulk. So I am saving money (maybe), but I am certainly saving time, and that's what we are going for here.

Really anything you can make into a consistent schedule to remove the time to make the decision is helpful for this purpose. Even if it's just setting a reminder 1-2 times a week to water your plants, floss, or whatever it is.

9) Do NOT multitask

This isn't 100% a way to spend money to save time, but don't overbook yourself, so you don't have to multitask.

Multitasking is NOT a thing. The human brain CANNOT do it. Therefore, you will not pay attention to one or both things AND your brain will specifically slow down between things and leave you with dead spots in time.

So do one thing at a time and spend money to ensure you can do that. You will do things faster, do them better, and remember them more.

That being said, I will only give you one option to multitask, which has come up a few times here - you can listen to audiobooks/podcasts/phone calls/etc, while driving/running/exercising/doing chores.

That's it. That's the only multitasking I am giving you, and honestly, the purpose of it is to not focus on the exercise/chore/etc. and otherwise, focus on the book.

Before I get to #10, you do NOT need to do ALL of these. Instead, I am giving you a ton of options to help you figure out which ones make the most sense for you.

But I do all these things, and it helps me run my businesses 2-3 days a week instead of 50-60 hours.

BUT, I have one aspirational dream: spend my money to save time.

10) Fly private

I have NEVER done this. It's my dream.  

But I hate flying...to be accurate, I hate showing up to the airport 1-2 hours early to stand in line at check-in, then in security, then ride the people mover/monorail (yes the Orlando airport has one AT the airport...it is our thing), to then wait at the gate to stand in line to get on the plane to have then it delayed...yadda yadda yadda.

How cool is it to just pull up the airplane, have it waiting for you, and walk right on? But, seriously, what is it like? I don't know!

And that, my friends, in 10 different ways to look at your wallet's ability to give your life back!

Next week we are going to break down my FAVORITE parable of the idiot college kids and how they cannot figure out how to get rocks and sand into a glass jar...but really, it's about how you can have it all in your life (or at least all the important things).

Until next week, maybe you not get caught up in an attempt to steal $7,000,000,000 in bonds during a hurricane with a questionable team of fellow thieves while being hunted by the FBI. At the same time, Netflix randomizes the order of episodes people watch about you.

Until Next Friday

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