By Bill Clinton

Think of how stingy you are with your money:if someone on the street asks for$10,you're not giving it to them.There's no way you're giving a 30%tip for a normal dining experience.And so on.

And yet so many of us just waste ungodly amounts of our time.We throw it away,every day.I know I do unless I'm careful.What helps me to not waste time is to see it as an investment,and to keep track of the returns I get for my investment.

This approach has led me to recognize that some things offer incredible immediate return on investment:a night spent learning a new song on my preferred instruments,for example,gives me a lifetime of being able to play that song.That's an incredible return.Other investments are more like low-interest,high security,long-term investments:going to the gym,eating right,etc.Some,like reading good books,are kind of a combination of both.

But many activities are worthless from an investment perspective:whatever benefit they seem to give doesn't last any longer than the activity itself.“Price is what you pay.Value is what you get.”—Warren Buffett.This applies to everything:money,relationships,time.Knowing this changes your life.

想想你在花錢上是多么地吝嗇，如果有人在街上問你要10美元，你是不會(huì)給的。普通的一頓飯要收你30%的小費(fèi)，那也是沒門。諸如此類的事情還有不少。

但是我們大部分人都肆意揮霍著時(shí)間，對(duì)于時(shí)間的浪費(fèi)，每天如此。除非我們刻意留心，不然我們還是明知故犯。怎樣做才能不浪費(fèi)時(shí)間?不如將它看成一種投資，看看它能帶來多少回報(bào)。

在某些方面，讓我覺得(投資時(shí)間)會(huì)有不可思議的即刻回報(bào)。比如，花一個(gè)晚上的時(shí)間，在我喜歡的樂器上學(xué)會(huì)一首新的曲子，那我今后的一生中就都會(huì)彈奏這首曲子。這是多么不可思議的回報(bào)。還有一些低利率、高安全率的長(zhǎng)期投資，比如：去健身房鍛煉、健康飲食等等。還有一些，包括閱讀有意義的書，算是兩者的結(jié)合。

但是有很多的活動(dòng)從投資的角度來說是毫無價(jià)值的，除了活動(dòng)本身的價(jià)值，其他的任何利益都不會(huì)得到延續(xù)。“你付出的是價(jià)格，買來的是價(jià)值。”這是沃倫·巴菲特的名言。這條定律適用于所有事物，即金錢、關(guān)系、時(shí)間。知道這個(gè)會(huì)改變你的人生。