by Chris McGinty
There’s this concept that has to do with two different basic approaches to a problem. The first involves measured steps making sure that no time our resources are wasted. The other says this is not going to be perfect and in fact it’s probably going to be highly flawed. I don’t know what the best way of doing things actually is. This can apply to a number life circumstances, but the place that I’ve seen it the most talked about basically has to do with finances, so let’s talk about that.
When I was paying child support I had to work a lot of hours a week to have enough to live, mostly because my jobs didn’t pay very well. There were times where I was working 14-hour shifts four to five nights a week and was still delivering pizza. There was another time where I was doing a 12-hour shift 7 days a week.
One thing that always kind of struck me about these times was that even though I had a lot of money coming in I didn’t always have time to user it efficiently. Sometimes to save time I would eat fast food and often neglected day-to-day life. I had more money coming in than I was used to, but in spite of that I couldn’t put it to its best use.
Meanwhile, had I been working less I could have been a lot more intentional with how I spent my money doing things like buying food and soda on sale and cooking my own dinner. It would have taken a lot longer to be financially free though.
Obviously, the ideal situation is a little bit in between. To be working a lot but also having a budget for your money. If you’re talking about day-to-day life it applies to the concept that you plan for 20 minutes to save 2 hours throughout your day. That may not be an entirely accurate concept, but it does sort of seem to work that way most times.
The reason I’ve been thinking of this is because so far in 2024 I seem to be sort of in brute force mode where it doesn’t seem to be about actually being efficient about anything. I’m not planning anything but I’m just spending large amounts of time on it and sometimes it’s exactly what you need to do, but this can wear you out. That’s where planning so you can be more efficient comes in very handy.
Chris McGinty is a blogger who knows he should be working 12 hour shifts seven days a week again, but also, nah.