Do you aspire to be a time millionaire?

I read an article on this last week, about how the pandemic has seen some people reassess their lives and aspirations.

This subset of the population doesn’t yearn to be monetary millionaires. They are acutely aware how short our time is on Earth and have instead designed their lives so that they can enjoy the one true commodity that cannot be bought or sold: time.

It’s something I talked about in this article.

I absolutely align with these people, if I’m honest, though to outsiders it would not seem so. I have four jobs and one business, and a family and house to manage—looking in, it would appear that I never know whether I’m coming or going and that my life is pressured beyond measure. Whilst I’m not someone who spends their afternoons lazing in the last of the summer sun, these things are simply not true. Yes, I work and work and work. The reason for this is that I get a huge amount of fulfilment from my jobs. They all bring their own rewards and fulfilment, as does my business—however, if they didn’t, I’d quickly say ‘Ciao’, for the very reason stated above: life’s too short. My social life is melded into my work, as are my hobbies (I’ve designed my career so that I’m constantly doing fun things across many different industries, for which I just so happen to be paid). I don’t feel as if much of my time is actually spent ‘working’.

Admittedly, most time millionaires are unlikely to be like me; instead, they’re fulfilled by their hobbies and in how they spend their time outside of work. These people opt for part-time hours or careers with limited responsibility, so that they can focus on their other commitments.

Some time millionaires work full-time hours but have engineered a certain lifestyle. They work from home for a company that pays little attention to the productivity of its employees. As long as their computers are switched on, and provided they do the bare minimum, they slip under the radar, undetected. During the time they’re meant to be working they watch TV, have leisurely breakfasts and lunchtimes, they play games, sit in the garden, surf the net…whatever takes their fancy.

In the past, those who keep their noses to the grindstone would have termed these people ‘shirkers’ or ‘wasters’; however, there will probably be many people today—following the slower pace of lockdowns and the freedom they know can be enjoyed when working from home—who will actually be quite envious of their situations.

Who decided that working 40 hours a week or more is a true sign of success? Which employee will likely have the longer, healthier life—the time millionaire or the one that works 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, and who lost sight of how to relax or sleep without interruption years ago?