Life Lessons and The Value of Time

I recently read the book, "Buy Back Your Time" by Dan Martell.

As I am reading this book, I recognize that the concept of buying back your time was already familiar to me.

As a young professional In my early twenties I was blessed to have a mentor named Skip Hoffman. He is gone now but his legacy lives on. He was the owner of a successful real estate company, a real estate developer and a dear friend to many.

I worked for Skip for nearly a decade as somewhat of a right hand. He taught me so many valuable business and life lessons during that time. One of these gems being that your time has great value.

I had a young son at the time and was also becoming more successful in my real estate career. Between my son's soccer practices, my work schedule and household responsibilities, I was struggling and stressed. Skip noticed my overwhelm.

In one of our many morning chats, he sat me down and said "How much do you make an hour in your work?" So I calculated it. Then he said, "How much does it cost you to hire someone to help you around the house?" We calculated that. Then he asked me how valuable my time was with my family. I was now seeing his point.

After that lesson, I took his advice and hired someone to help with household cleaning and chores. This allowed me to spend my free time outside of work on my true priority which was time with my son. Little did I know at the time just how important this life lesson would be for me. A few short years later my son passed away suddenly in a car accident. Needless to say, the time I had with him truly was priceless.

Two lessons that I would share:

1. Time truly is precious and cannot be taken for granted. Spend it wisely on the people and things that matter to you.

2. Find a mentor or be one to someone else. Skip's many lessons were a gift that truly impacted my life both personally and professionally.