What if time were the currency with which you use to buy things you need and want?

What would you do differently?

I watched the film In Time with Justin Timberlake last night. In the film time is literally money. You were paid in hours to extend your life for the work you did, rent was a week off your life, coffee cost three hours.

And when you ran out of "time" your clock stopped and you died instantly.

It got me to thinking how closely this resembles our life now. Sure we are paid in dollars and Euros from our jobs, but essentially we are paid in time for the time we spend at work.

What if the global currency was time? What would you do differently? Would that new car be worth five years off your life? Or could your current one work just fine for another few years? Would you have tried harder with your education to be able to afford more later?

What would you invest in if time were money?

If time were money would you sleep in?

How many things would you consider unimportant and eliminate from your life?

Sure, you can always earn more, but correlate it to the job you currently have- will your boss give you more money per day of work to afford your extravagant wants? Can you easily go out and find a better paying job with your current education and qualifications?

And forget about debt. You cannot give more years than you currently have on hand.

Look around you. Take inventory of the things you have. Would they really be worth time off your life?

What is important to you?

Next time you go to make a purchase, consider it's worth using the time is money model.