One of my childhood heroes is the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890).
He as basically the founder of modern archeology and managed to find the ancient Troy. His whole life is literally one huge adventure – a classic self-made Cinderella story, but of course with more ups and downs than Disney would put their audience through.
As a child he read Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, where Troy and its destruction is described, and that was enough to enlighten the sparkle of finding the ruins one day.
But before that he became a self-made millionaire. He was probably one of the most active guys I ever read about, and his decisiveness impressed me right on. He taught himself over 20 languages. He was learning languages by reading and memorizing foreign books, while simultaneously reading the German translation. This act alone trained his brain so that he could remember every speech with pinpoint accuracy. And he did this memorization technique by “stealing time” as he described it in his biography.
That means, whenever he had to wait in line at a postal office, he immediately pulled out his books and started to read and memorize a couple sentences. He did that over and over again, every time he had “dead time”. Day in and day out. 24/7.
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When Stealing Is Desireable
That was his definition of stealing time. He didn’t specifically schedule language learning (besides at the weekend) but accomplished it by making the best out of his given time.
I currently added some time saving software into my portfolio here on that page (take a look at the “Products” section). It is automation software that saves you a TON of time as well if you do things like organic marketing or put a lot of content out there.
And that is what automation process is all about, right? It has always been that way, since the first tools invented by the early homo sapiens, the invention of the steam engine, or the integration of AI into nowadays processes. It’s supposed to save TIME, and everybody can benefit of these inventions and integrations.
Most people don’t think of time as a resource, but it is, and it is not different than financial or personal capital (see my very first blog post) – in terms of wealth building: You can trade your time for money, and you can use time to improve your personal capital. In other words, you can exchange one resource for another and can even buy back time with financial capital.
But this is only one side of the equation, because the more important question is, what do you do with your saved time? Is it to have more “freedom”, “leisure-time” or “getting other shit done”?
What Do You Do With Your Time?
Schliemann used his extra time (no, he hadn’t actually “extra” time, he literally stole it, as described before) to educate himself. He became what we today would consider to be a “super-human”. Elon Musk uses his automation processes to think about the next steps. He maps out his current processes for the future and what the eventually bring back – time and money wise.
The point is, they both kept the circle of going forward moving, with every resource they have.
And here also lies the danger of losing momentum. Saving time, thanks to automation processes, can be a trap. If you let all automation processes do their thing so that you can watch TV, you eventually doing yourself a disservice in the long term. Think about it. You basically become a small version of that person “who never had to work for anything”. It is the same with money. Once you have it, you can immediately spend it for immediate pleasure.
But the right mix between free time and constant challenge should be taken seriously, with an emphasis on constantly challenging yourself, in my opinion. You will become better on a daily basis completely naturally, your success is only a matter of time, and you have your destiny in your own hands (and don’t need to rely on the functionality of a robot). Delegation has always been key, but with today’s technical tools, more people have the possibility to do so – there is no need to delegate to other people like it has been in the past.
Be smart with your resources: your money, your personal capital, and your time.