THE EXTRAORDINARY VALUE OF GOLDEN TIME
USE YOUR GOLD WISELY AND NEVER FOOLISHLY!
See and do, at the very end of this piece, after the stories, "How To Implement The Use Of The Gold Hours"!!!!!!
The discussion in this piece is for the purpose of having you be clear on the value of spending your gold wisely!
Let's say you were given the following every day:
4 allotments of $1,000 each - $4,000 in total
1 allotment of $1 (but convertible to a portion of it being $100)
[Super-slump in afternoon, partly redeemable by rest]
6 allotments of $50 each - $300
5 allotments of $25 each - $125
Total $ allotted $4,426
Would you spend the money getting the most value per dollar regardless of how much you have?
Would you do anything but watch the big $ much, much more?
Would you invest as much as possible early on so that its value would compound over life, giving you extra returns, many, many times over?
THIS IS WHAT YOU'D DO
I could get caught up in email or computer browsing in my high golden time and get the following:
Alt. I: $4,000 spent to buy $100 worth of life value
Or
Alt. 2: I could learn how to strike a good bargain and to leverage my money so that the following would occur instead:
$4,000 spent to buy $5,000 worth of value in my life
The choice is so obvious, of course. And it might seem demeaning to suggest that you don't already know this, but...
If you truly "knew" (grokked) it, then you would be doing it - and doing it every day, as if the gold was actually gold!!!
The "$" difference here actually represents what most people do with their lives.
The difference is $4900 of extra value obtained from life (either in the form of investments in the future, such as learning life skills that will produce ongoing value, and/or obtaining direct life value.
THIS DETERMINES "THE WORTH OF YOUR LIFE"
Many people have days and even lives that are worth 1/50th of what they could get from life. The objective of this site is to help a user of the site to increase his/her life value at least 10 times ("10X"), with a target of 100 times.
"Simply" just do your best to stick to fully utilizing and harvesting your incredibly high- potential morning hours - where you have the thinking ability, alertness and energy to harvest alot of value - such that you actually gain the value you can, to create an incredibly great (and very achievable) life.
THAT'S IT IN TERMS OF CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING
Although I could discuss and follow what is done with all the lesser value allotments, there would be little value in that. If you were to gain the $426 total of all the other non-golden allotments put together plus maybe an extra 50%, you would gain an extra $213 in value. If you just were 10% more effective with the 4 high gold allotments, you would gain $400 extra dollars - easily beating the payoff for being more effective with all the other allotments put together (and doing it with less effort!).
So, while we can invest time in increasing the efficiency of the other allotments, we should first, and for quite awhile, focus on increasing our effective usage of the four big allotments - for the return for our efforts will always be a multiple of our return on making the small allotments more effective. (See and "grok" Operating Based On Marginal Returns!.)
DO THE IMPLEMENTATION SECTION
Although I’ve thrown in “my story" before the implementation section, but obviously you should go to that section, after the story, and decide what to actually implement in your life!!!!
This is, of course, the most vital part of the whole process!!!! (Duh!)
MY STORY
Believe you me: I had to wrestle with this for a long while. Though I made some improvements, I realize now that I could have done this much, much sooner had I realized the value of this - and that it was a #1 activity. The reason it is a "first" activity to do is that it is what sets it up so that I can produce more things that produce value later on in life. (See Life Value Productivity.)
So, I'd get better, then I'd revert. I'd get too busy. I'd forget.
It seems that I didn't set these all up so that they were built into a "solved" system. And I was "too busy" to actually set up excellent systems - leaving them mostly "half-a--ed", though somewhat beneficial.
The lesson learned for me was that I should have done it much sooner and have been truly complete about it (at least to the 90% level, polishing the rest off later).
The other lesson I am reminded of is that of compounding return. I could have become much more effective at producing more and more effective hours, which would in turn have caused me to learn and create more and more life skills that would make life better and free time up to do even better and better things in life...sooner.
So, my writing is my opportunity to improve on this, where I note where I fall down (or decline) and then figure out how to prevent that in the future. So, I get lots and lots of benefit from it AND I try to share that with the users of this site so that their paths are more effective and reward much quicker. If I can cut the time to learn and put this into practice, then the true users of the site will have significantly better lives, sooner.
_________
A little side story, optional read:
I used to, for a long time, spend much of my morning in the easiest, kinda stimulating browsing for useful content. Surely, I thought, that was appropriate for somebody who must cull "useful content" down into quicker and more useful content.
But, alas, I was not thinking clearly, or at least not holding things "in perspective".
I forgot the piece about "effective learning", wherein random learning without system nor plan is highly ineffective - at least compared to a systematic approach. Basically, I needed to follow a discipline (= "a path") that would have me more efficiently go down the road.
___________________
THE IMPLEMENTATION SECTION
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE USE OF GOLD TIME
(Fine tuning down to the precise minute and activity is well worth it.)
Although I will provide some examples, you can come up with your own answers simply by asking: "What is worth my spending my gold on?"
Then you'd spend your silver and bronze coins (coin = hour) on lesser value items.
Realize that each day must be "front loaded", assuring all the highest value is inserted in the day first, before and instead of the other items (and before you get "flaky"). After that, you begin your "regular day".
Is preparing your breakfast worth spending gold on?
I say "no!" (At least not very much!)
If you spend more than 3 minutes preparing breakfast, I would recommend spending the bronze time the night before and have your whole breakfast prepared ahead of time!
Yes, there are some things we must do during the gold time, of course, but you would try to push out everything that is not necessary during that time.
For reliability (and assurance it will be done before there are interruptions) and launching the day well, you would exercise in the morning - as the time spent overlaps beyond the gold time - metabolism and productivity are higher, you are functioning better and feel better - all items of great value.
Some waking up time is most likely needed, but it need not be "sauntering around" time, that is aimless and largely useless. For those with super-training, they would start asap in the morning with the exercising. For the rest of us, we would exercise the first thing after the ramping up time (which would be based on a systematic checklist of what to do).
__ To assure that this is done, I would suggest that you monitor, on a written monitoring sheet, what time you get up every day and what time you start your gold hour high usage. Although exercise during the gold hours is perfectly ok, I would not count it as gold hour usage to buy results. It is day prep time, just like eating breakfast and basic ramping up time.
__ To increase your gold time without interruption from the hurly burly day, you would go to bed earlier and get up earlier (but you'd NEVER violate the full night's rest rule).
__ Keep gold time absolutely uninterruptible, with no diversions at all! Even the two minute rule for getting things done quickly is nullified during that time - instead you write down the to dos and other thoughts on a temporary notepad page or sheet.
AN EXAMPLE OF A DAY HONORING THE GOLD TIME
As an example, I use my structuring of morning time that is not necessarily ideal nor iron willpower based but does work:
Up at 6. Hygiene, drink water, eat a breakfast (quick or prepared the night before) and "waking up". [If, for whatever reason, I get up later, I still do the same order and amount of time, except for legitimate emergencies, which almost never occur because I will not drop my standards for what is an actual emergency versus an interruption.]
Do back and leg stretching exercises before get out of bed (1 minute). After going to the toilet and putting water on my hair to comb it and on my face, I do, at whatever level of energy I feel at the time, ten windmilling (backwards to push shoulders back and to breathe more deeply) of the arms and then doing a "Rocky" arms above the head up and down for a count of 10 at least and some basic stretches, so my body is awake. Total time: 5 minutes or less.
Eat breakfast while I do (the comforting) review emails, where the rule is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go beyond 15 minutes (always using the timer next to the chair I sit in). I do not "read" any of them, except to glance to see if worthwhile to process. Then they get routed to "Process today" (which I return to when I finalize the plan for the day, which was initially roughed out the day before when I finished my activities for the day (before the evening, that is), to "read high" or "watch high" (which are usually allocated to the evening, as it takes little effort and little brainpower). My plan for the day MUST include a time block for everything, including when I will be reading or watching what I set aside above. Nothing goes unscheduled, though I leave some blank "buffer times".
No calls are answered during the gold time, unless set up to happen that way. Even important calls if not urgent are not answered!!!!! NO interruptions are allowed, even by loved ones, where "to dos" are renegotiated as to when they need to be done - almost never do loved ones need something done right away.
During the gold hours, the only "interruptions" are the mandatory "breaks" and a low-time-taken lunch (if I am still in Gold time).
I used to get inspired on something I read in an email, so I would read it right then and look up hours later to see all the Gold I had spent for little value AND/OR I would start my writing right then and put off my exercise time - neither worked. So, my exercise time happens right after my "ramp up" for the day, "2nd thing" in the morning. I read on the treadmill and take, with a little weight lifting, about 45 minutes, including travel time. [If you are going to a gym that is not just 2 minutes or less away, you should not waste Gold time traveling (and the time to get ready to be presentable!). You should have a treadmill at home - think about it, think about the huge amount of Gold saved by buying a treadmill for $600-$750 or so! See Making Exercise Easy.]
If you protest that this is too much effort (and perhaps that you are retired and need not be concerned with your time), then you are fooling yourself. You can still use your Gold to purchase what is most valuable!!!!
Note also that Gold time will often feel so good, especially the progress, that its benefit will "spill over" into the following Silver or Bronze time. This is why you might consider continuing a Gold activity right into the next period of time. Although there could be some exceptions, it is best to continue an activity for as long as you can be reasonably productive on it, rather than spread it out in pieces or let it be interrupted. By continuing you 1) assure it is being done (i.e. it is happening NOW instead of maybe happening later, 2) don't have to "reset up" or recall where you left off and your train of thought, and 3) get a greater sense of progress (and you just plain feel better and more confident in your ability to follow through in life!). I would consider using 4 hour blocks, with "breaks" every hour or hour and a half (see Living My Life In 90 Minute Segments).
TO "ASSURE" IMPLEMENTATION
I set up an "accountability/awareness" monitoring sheet. At first, before I had decided a definite non-variable schedule for the morning, I had some gross violations, but soon I was "whipped" into shape, gently, to be aware and to follow the schedule I set up - for a great feeling every day!
Just use a Daily Monitoring For The Week form, which is merely a "table" with columns labeled "Activity/Item", a letter for each day of the week, and a total column for the week (which totals I could enter into a "weekly monitoring for the quarter" sheet).
THE BOTTOM LINE!
IF YOU HIGHLY HONOR YOUR GOLD, YOU WILL FIND YOUR LIFE REMARKABLY RICHER!!!!!!!
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Do this, in this order:
___ Monitoring sheet implementation
___ I colored in Gold (yellow) my entire high productive, highly alert, able to think well time into my calendar, so that I can see when I am sticking something into that time that is not a gold (or green, for growth) activity
