Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.

Return on investment (ROI) is a term you hear frequently, usually in relation to business and finance. The goal (obviously) is to maximize return on the money you invest. The implications of this concept go much deeper when you start to think of time as your primary investment rather than money. Everything you do is an investment of time. When you watch television, you’re making an investment in entertainment. If you watch a show that sucks, you’ve made a bad investment and receive a poor return for your time.

In many ways time is more valuable than money. You’ll always have the opportunity to make more money, but once time has been spent it’s gone forever. When you think of time as a commodity, and all of your actions as investments, it changes the way you approach every day decisions.

We spend time in many different ways: working, eating, sleep, exercise, entertainment, etc. All of these things are important. When we start investing too heavily in one area and not enough in another we create problems for ourselves. The key is investing our time in a manner that perfectly balances each of these areas and forms a productive and pleasurable life.

Deciding how to invest our time is a formidable task. Unlike business, there are no percentages or spreadsheets to reference. We have to rely on experience and intuition. I’m far from a master at this, but these are a few principals I use to guide my decision making.

1. Look for Multiple Positives
A multiple positive is an activity that generates a positive return in more than one area. These are great for ROI because they multiply returns and incur fewer losses. One of my best multiple positives is working on this website. It’s something that I find extremely entertaining, it contributes to a small (but steadily growing) stream of income, and it develops skills that I’ll be able to use the rest of my life like writing, web design, and networking.

Every individual will have different multiple positives, the important part is finding ones that work for you. A multiple positive for a software developer might be working on open source or a personal project. It can even be as simple as playing basketball, a fun game that’s also great exercise. The key to finding multiple positives is finding areas where different positive actions intersect. If I can find a way to get paid to eat delicious food I’ll be golden.

2. Avoid Multiple Negatives
Multiple negatives are the same as multiple positives, except the complete opposite. These are activities that detract from multiple areas of life. One of my favorite weaknesses is going out drinking. This hurts me in three ways: the time spent isn’t productive, drinks are expensive, and the effect of staying up late and being hungover usually ruins the following day. If I don’t have a good time, this is basically the worst possible scenario.

I’m not saying you should never go out and have a good time. To be happy we need socialization and excitement. My point is that we should always try to minimize the negative impact of our actions. I try to do this by minimizing the amount I drink and only going out when I know it will be enjoyable. Often we get caught in a pattern of poor investment. Over time, the benefits fade away and what remains is mostly negative, but we keep doing it out of habit. This can be avoided by periodically analyzing our behavior. Is it still a good investment, or is it time to make a change?

3. Utilize the Power of Compounding
I’m sure that everyone reading this understands the power of compound interest. When you invest money you earn interest. Then you start earning interest on the money you earned from interest. Over many years this continues to compound and eventually leads to a very large sum of money. The same concept applies to time. If you invest time by working hard when you’re young, you put yourself in a position to succeed that will continue compounding for the rest of your life. If you waste time when you’re young, you can’t make up for it later because you’ve lost the opportunity to utilize the power compounding.

Many people my age fail realize this, in fact I didn’t, or at least I didn’t act on it, until fairly recently. The primary reason is that we’re trapped in the childish mindset. As a child, your only responsibility is entertaining yourself. You needn’t worry about investing your time because Mommy and Daddy are there to take care of you and they’re usually happy as long as you stay out of trouble. These days many young adults ride the childish mindset straight through college. After graduation we’re expected to adopt the adult mindset (and the responsibility of investing our time) instantaneously. A lot of people don’t get it, and every year they waste trying to extend the college days is an opportunity that can never be replaced.

Many people think their time isn’t valuable when they aren’t working, so they throw it away on activities that have a poor return on investment and don’t build for the future. The truth is, no one else is going to consider your time valuable until you do. If you want to acquire the wealth that will provide the freedom to live your ideal lifestyle, start thinking of every decision as an investment. Nothing is insignificant.

One mental model that can help you make better decisions is imagining that your life is a corporation and you’re the only employee. If you were the CEO of John Doe Incorporated, and were obliged to maximize profit on behalf of investors, what would you make yourself do? You’ll find that this sort of analysis simplifies many decisions and increases return on investment.

不要浪费时间，因为这是生命的组成。

你经常听到投资回报率（ ROI ）这个词，通常与商业和金融有关。目标（显然）是对你投资的钱获得最大限度的回报。当你开始考虑把时间而不是金钱作为一种投资时，这个概念更深刻。

看电视，你是在为娱乐投资，如果沉迷于电视剧，你的投资就不明智，对你付出的时间的回报的收获就少。

很多时候，时间投资比金钱投资更有价值。挣钱总是有机会的，但是时间一去不复返。把时间看作商品，你所有的行动都是投资，它会改变你每天的决定。

我们花费时间的方式多种多样：工作，吃饭，睡觉，锻炼，娱乐等等，这些事情都很重要。当我们在一个领域投入过多时，别的地方就会不足，我们就会给自己找麻烦。我们投资时间的关键就是以一种平衡的方式，在每一领域，形成一种能产生回报的，快乐的生活。

决定如何投资时间是一个艰难的任务。不像做生意，有百分率或电子表格参考。我们只能依靠经验和直觉。这方面我也不是个专家，但是我有几点用来指导我的决定的原则。

1.寻找多重肯定

多重肯定是一种积极的活动，能在多个领域产生积极的回报。因为多倍回报，损失很小，这种回报率就很大。我最大的多重回报之一就是在网站工作。我也感到非常愉快，尽管收入不多（但还是逐渐增加的），开发了技能，我今后的生活还能用上比如写作，网页设计以及网络工作。

每个人都会有不同的多重肯定，重要的是找到一个能为你服务的。软件开发商的多重回报可能是在一个公开资源的工作或个人事业。这就如同打篮球一样简单，有趣的游戏也是一种很好的锻炼。找到多重肯定的关键是找到一个不同肯定活动的兴趣领域。

如果我找到一种能享受美食又能有收入的方法，我就是很快乐。

2.避免多重否定

除了结果是相反的，多重否定如同多重肯定一样。这些活动会降低生活的各个领域。我最大的弱点之一就是喜欢出去喝酒。这对我有三种坏处：付出的时间没有回报，酒钱很贵，很晚才睡，酩酊大醉通常会影响第二天。如果我没有尽兴，这就是最糟糕的情形。

我不是说你不应该外出痛饮，尽情玩乐。要幸福，我们需要社会化的活动和刺激。我的观点是我们应该将这种行动的负面影响最小化。我试着通过花最少的钱饮酒，只是在我觉得高兴的时候才出去。通常我们陷入这样一种模式，没有好处，最坏的否定，但是我们改不了。经常分析一下我们的行为就能够避免。仍然是个好的投资还是该做个改变的时候了？

3.运用综合力量

我相信每个人读到这里都会明白综合投资。投资金钱能获利。然后在从获利中挣钱。多年以后最终就会有一大笔钱。应用于时间投资也是如此。如果年轻时努力工作，你就会把自己放在一个成功的位置上，就会给你的余生带来综合的回报。如果年轻时浪费时间，后来就要去弥补，因为你失去了运用综合力量的机会。

很多人到了我这个年纪 还没有意识到，实际上我也如此，或者至少还没有采取行动，直到最近。主要的原因是我们还有幼稚的的思维模式。小时候，你唯一的责任就是好好玩，不必担心投资时间，因为有父母照顾你，只要你平安无事他们就会高兴。如今，这些刚刚步入成年人行列的年轻人将这种有幼稚的思维模式直接带进了大学。毕业后，我们立即接受成年人的思维模式，（要为我们的时间投资负责）。许多人不得要领，每天还徒劳的试图延伸大学的生活，这是无法代替的。

很多人认为，工作的时间并不宝贵，因此他们随意浪费，回报很少，不能建设美好的未来。事实上，只有当你需要时是才知道时间的价值。如果你想获得财富，过你想要的理想的生活方式，现在就开始做出每个决定时都看作一种投资。

任何事都很重要。

一种好的思维模式有助于你更好的做决定。想一想，你的生活就是一个公司，你是唯一的雇员。如果你是某个公公司的CEO,站在投资者的立场上，不得不最大化公司的盈利，你该如何做？你会觉得这种分析简单化了很多决定，提高了投资回报