I’m a gigantic dork.
I’m a 46-year-old man who loves playing Xbox.
Judge me all you want. Whatever.
I’m also a voracious reader. I play guitar. I skateboard. I workout.
If I’m not working, you can probably catch me doing one of those 5 things.
But those non-work activities are not all created equal. Not by a long shot.
The latter 4 – reading, guitar, skating, and lifting – are recharge activities.
After those activities, I’m ready to get back to work. They actually feed my productivity.
On the other hand, playing Xbox is mental junk food.
Like actual junk food, it tastes good in the moment, but I’ll be hungry 30 minutes later.
It doesn’t recharge me. It doesn’t fuel me. It just tastes good.
And that’s okay in small doses.
PAYING FOR LEVERAGE TO EAT JUNK FOOD
As a Financial Zen Master, I believe deeply in buying back my time.
If I can hire labor or buy technology to save me time, then I will.
The Return on Time is almost always positive…almost.
If I buy back time only to spend it consuming mental junk food, then I flushed that money down the toilet.
If, however, I use it to recharge or tackle higher-value productive activities, then I’m winning.
So if I hire a CPA to save me 6 hours doing my own taxes, I make sure I use that 6 hours to either work or recharge.
If I use it to play Xbox or binge Netflix or scroll social media, then I’m wasting my money.
And Financial Zen Masters don’t waste money.
