I used to wake up each Monday morning feeling relaxed and refreshed. Now all I can think about is taking a Monday off just so that I can catch up on life. Seems like the battle is always the same these days’do you value time or money?

We’ve got two options: keep doing stuff like cleaning the house and doing our taxes or hire someone else to do it. The question is: which is of more value in your life? Your time? Or your money?

During college, the scarcity is unquestionably the money. Time can run in abundance. Then you graduate, get a job, finally gain a little money to do things… and discover that you have no time left.

I’ve always thought that the greatest parody in life is how much we work and work when we’re young and capable so that when we’re old and out of energy, we can stop working. Vacationing in the Alps sounds pretty cool. But when you’ve got the energy to hit the slops and all of the other wild opportunities, you don’t have the money or time. Meanwhile, my grandma could fit a few fancy vacations to the Alps into her life… if she had the energy to travel outside the state lines.

Some British professor apparently came up with a time versus money formula:

V = (W ((100-t) / 100) / C

V = value of an hour
W = your hourly wage
t = your tax rate
C = how much it costs to live in your area

This formula makes sense to me until I think about the cost of living around here… then the equation gets skewed. I’m not sure what the definition of C is. Guess I need to add “figure out this formula” to my to-do list. Any ideas?

In any case, you probably have a good sense of what your hourly value is because it’s what other people pay you for your services. First decide which is more important’your time or your money and how much of each you have to spare or are willing to give up. Housecleaning, yard work, and taxes probably hit the top of your I-hate-to-do list. Pay someone else to do them for you? Hmmm.

Brilliant idea: If you like to do the things that everyone else hates, you can land some big money. Think insurance, tax law, or poop scooping. How many young guys start up lawn mowing services? How many of these guys let the businesses grow beyond their interest in mowing lawns to their interest in running companies? They hire other young guys to mow while they make money.

The balance, of course, is making sure that you don’t run out of money when you hire out the work! Yet I am willing to bet that most Aridni readers don’t confront the time/money situation like this. For us, the feeling of being exhausted holds more value that the feeling of being poor on paper.

So how do you manage to balance your time and your money?

For the random winner of the poetry contest, congratulations to shakir hasnain for your poem Jeweller.

Jeweller

he is a master of procurement
an author of delivery
he promises to the display window
a stone from the sunken city
set in the reflection
of the galaxy
he sold light years away
to some eccentric patch of the sky

Thanks to all of you who submitted a to our poetry contest. Stay tuned in the future for more different contests and events in the future.

Another thanks to the Text Link Ads Sponsors who made this contest possible

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What fun we have had with this poetry contest! We loved seeing the different poetry styles, technique, and go-for-it ideas you all shared with us. Thanks all!

We told you that we would announce the winners yesterday, though we got a little distracted by a milestone birthday of our mother who came to town. When asked for a piece of agely wisdom, she told everyone at the table, “Be accepting of others.” We hope you can follow her tip and be accepting of our day-late response, too. ;)

This morning, we announce the champion poem, written by efipo. Stay tuned for the random winner to be announced shortly. In the meantime, YEAH, efipo! I think that we can all relate to the words that efipo shares:

I’ve seen many men throw away their money.
I would even point and laugh and think it was funny.
People will buy gold and expensive liquor.
Little do they know, their debt is getting thicker.
I try to explain and tell them you’re way out of sight.
But all they do is shout and want to pitch a fight.
“Stop judging me! I can spend all my cash.”
Little do they know, it’s gone in a flash.

After mounds of debt, they come knocking for advice.
Know they realize debt is like a bad case of lice.
Stop buying crap and pay down your debt.
Did you really need to buy a diamond necklace for your pet?
You’ll find your retirement money in your shoes to be sold.
Now sell all your stuff like your baseball hat and your mouth full of gold.
Your life is not over. You didn’t soil it.
But stop throwing money down the toilet.

My boss is angry again today. I don’t know why he’s mad, but instead of helping him along, I am finding myself snapping right back just a little.

Anger raises everyone’s metabolism and decreases enthusiasm. My coworkers and I need to hear his anger sometimes to keep us focused’though the cost this degrading attitude places on my office? I’m not always sure that the aggressive, football player, cream your butt kind of attitude works outside of the playing field.

We hold little control over the attitude of others; we have control over ourselves, though. You can’t make people around you better so much as you can make yourself a better person.

Marshall Goldsmith addresses management through anger in his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. His book, a bestseller, holds a lot of tips on how to improve yourself, specifically in the office environment. He writes, “We save a special place in our minds for our chronically angry colleagues. No matter what else they do, we brand them as easily combustible. When we talk about them, the first words out of people’s mouths are, ‘I hear he has a temper.'”

I don’t think that you can make aggressively angry people change. You can only change how you respond to their attitude. If you keep your mouth shut, no one can know how you feel, and that’s a good thing. Once you can appreciate the ability to resist a crude comment, the benefits start to roll in. Goldsmith points out that you won’t embarrass yourself. You won’t create enemies. And best of all, you can resist better in the future.