The Currency of Time

A spread about investing, spending, and saving our most personal resources.

I watched a video essay from Pagemelt recently called Be Your Own Algorithm. In it, Mel discussed a quote from the CEO of Netflix. And you know what the CEO of Netflix said their biggest competitor is? Not another streaming service, not cable, not music — it’s sleep.

That hit me like a brick and I can’t stop thinking about it. We all know social media is vying for our time, but I’d never seen it framed with such offence; our attention is so valuable that the richest people in the world view human biology as the competition. Which left me rolling this thought around: Am I using the golden commodity of my own attention wisely? 

If our waking hours are our currency, then resting, creating, socializing, and being fully present with ourselves is an investment. It’s not an original concept, but this new little fact woke something up for me and has been reframing my movements since. How I spend my time feels like decisions instead of flow and I’d like to keep that near me for a little while longer, see how I can shape it better for me. This spread is about the currency of time and determining where we find the most value for ourselves.

 1. Where as I making unconscious withdrawls?

2. Where can I invest for personal enrichment?

3. What retuns can I expect?