When given the choice, should you invest money to get more time or invest your time to earn more money?

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The Science of Productivity segment brings you scientific insights you can trust into how to maximize the impact of your life and get an edge at work. In this week’s segment, I want to unpack whether you should prioritize increasing time or money in your life.

Recent research by Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans and her colleagues asked 1,000 college students which individual they most resembled:

Tina, who is willing to sacrifice money to have more time, or

Maggie, who would rather work more hours and make more money

Two years later, they followed up with these students to see how happy they were. The Tina’s who valued time were significantly happier than those who prioritized money.

In other research, Whillans looked at the countries with the highest level of satisfaction, including Columbia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Uzbekistan. Why was satisfaction so high in these countries despite low GDPs? While not the only explanation, Whillans found that people in these countries value leisure (that is, time) over work.

Warren Buffett famously said that he could buy pretty much anything in the world, but he couldn’t buy time. Fortunately, this is not quite true. You can invest your money to get more time (for example, hiring someone to do household chores) or forego money to preserve more time (skipping the demanding job opening you don’t love but pays more). To create a ripple effect that leads to a variety of positive outcomes, including overall well-being and job satisfaction, take the advice of this growing body of research and make decisions and investments that maximize the time you have to do what you love.

Sources:

• “Are New Graduates Happier Making More Money or Having More Time?” Harvard Business Review. Ashley Whillans (Jul 2019)
• “Leisure beliefs and the subjective well-being of nations” Journal of Positive Psychology. Lucia Macchia & Ashley Whillans (Jul 2019)

Link for additional reading on Zarvana:

• How Productivity Leads to Happiness, According to Harvard Research