Make Your Brand Matter

CHAPTER 6Time Is the New Currency – Anticipating without Being Invasive

Ben Franklin, the source of so many famous quotations, is commonly attributed with first saying that “time is money.” Although I freely admit I had never read Franklin's “Advice to a Young Tradesman” before preparing to write this book, I discovered the phrase in that piece. Specifically, Franklin wrote: “… Remember that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, and goes abroad, or sits idle one half of that day, tho’ he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent or rather thrown away five shillings besides …”¹

Franklin was reminding this unnamed tradesman that time spent not working is time spent not earning. It's good advice for certain, as it emphasizes the importance of hard work, of focus, and of output. Many sources highlight that this phrase actually goes back to the time of the Greek philosophers, but the essence of the phrase rings true, whether we are talking about the time of Aristotle in the fourth century BCE, the time of Franklin in the eighteenth century, or the modern millennium in the twenty‐first century. However, like all great concepts and philosophies, the idea has evolved and morphed to adapt to the reality of today. Today, the focus isn't on spending time working, but instead on being more efficient with time. I refer to this as collapsing time.

COLLAPSING TIME

The advent of digital ...