Time, Money, and Energy: How to Balance Your 3 Most Important Resources
Time Money Energy Chart At Different Ages
You have probably seen the time money energy meme that circulates online. It describes three stages of life and how our most important resources shift with age.
When you are young, you have plenty of time and energy but limited money. As a working adult, you have energy and money but significantly less time. In retirement, you finally have wealth and free time but your energy and health have diminished.
It is a popular framework because it feels true. And for most people, it is.
But the problem with this narrative is that it leads us to accept we cannot live the life we want today. It tells us we can only have time freedom when we retire, money when we are older and have worked hard enough, and energy when we are young and it comes naturally.
I disagree.
We do not have to accept the average pattern for our lives. Plenty of people are living counter to this narrative. I have closely studied the ones who have broken free from the time money energy tradeoff, and I have coached over 50 business owners through building it for themselves.
They live a life that many people can only dream of. A life with time freedom and the ability to enjoy their money while being healthy and full of energy.
These entrepreneurs have built valuable businesses while protecting their time and energy. They have the freedom to live the life they want now without trading all their time working. Because they know it is not worth being rich if you do not have the time and health to enjoy your life today.
The truth is, we can have all 3 at any age if we are intentional about how we manage them.
We can have enough time if we choose to invest it intentionally in what matters. We can feel rich if we know what matters most to us and make smart investments. We can have energy if we prioritize our health today with diet, exercise, and sleep.
That is how I am building my business and my life. Balancing all three key resources at 35 and never trading too much of one for the other.
Why I Built My Business Around Time, Money, and Energy
I started my business with balance as the main purpose. Not to work crazy hours to maximize my wealth, but to prioritize my time and freedom first while steadily growing my income.
An ideal day for me is waking up without an alarm, working on things I am passionate about for 6 to 7 hours, exercising, and having time for fun or downtime without ever feeling rushed.
That might sound unrealistic if you are currently working 50 or 60 hours a week. But every single one of my coaching clients started in that same place, and many of them now work 30 to 35 hours while earning more than they did before. It is not about doing less. It is about doing the right things in fewer hours.
Here is how I approach each of the three resources and the specific practices that keep them in balance.
Time: Your Most Valuable and Least Renewable Resource
I prioritize my time freedom above all else. I believe that when most people dream about being rich, they are really dreaming about having enough money to not have to work so much.
Ask yourself this: if I had all the money I needed, how would I spend my time?
When I reflect on that question, the answer is clear. I would still work a few hours a day on my passions, but I would mostly dedicate my time to friends, family, community, and travel.
The good news is most of those things are available to us now, regardless of how much money we have, if we make time for them. We do not need to be millionaires to invest our time in the people and things that matter most.
We can always make more money, but we can never get our time back. So the idea of trading the best years of my life to grind hard for money never appealed to me.
Instead, I dedicated as much of my 20s and 30s to travelling the world and building skills that do not take 40+ hours per week to earn the money I want. That means I have a higher dollar-per-hour income so I can hit my goals in less time.
How I Structure My Time
On average, I work 25 to 30 hours per week, which is easily enough to earn the income I need and is sustainable forever without burning me out.
I rarely work Fridays because long weekends are always more fun. I have found that by reducing the hours I work in a week, it forces me to prioritize my most important work in the limited hours I have. When you give yourself less time, you naturally eliminate the work that does not matter.
I speak to business owners every day so I realize this is rare, but it is also a choice. We can all choose to control our time if it matters enough.
My favourite thing is helping business owners go from overwhelmed and overworked to enjoying their time freedom while growing their business. If you want to see how that works in practice, read about how to grow your business without working nights and weekends or the 4 lessons that helped me master my time.
Money: Defining Enough Is Better Than Wanting More
My goal is to earn enough money to provide for my ideal lifestyle today, grow my business to increase my income, and invest in stocks to steadily build long-term wealth.
Ask yourself: how much money would I truly need to live the life I want?
Answering this question is the key to freeing ourselves from the relentless pursuit of more, because it helps us define what is enough.
How I Think About Money
I know exactly how much income I need to earn each month to cover my living expenses and provide the stability I want. I focus on exceeding that amount by a little each month but I rarely push past that because I don’t believe more money beyond my needs is worth the tradeoff to my time.
I am careful with my spending because I know that the more I spend, the more I have to work to keep earning more money. This helps me spend on the things that bring me the most happiness, which for me is meals out with friends, seeing concerts, and travelling as much as possible. Buying things has never provided lasting satisfaction.
I do not believe we need to be millionaires to have what we need in life and be happy. Instead, I have found that having complete control of my time, flexibility to do what I want when I want, and freedom to take days off and travel leads to a significantly better life.
Think about the happiest people you know. Are they working 60+ hours per week? Or are they spending more time living their lives than working?
The key is to find a way to earn the money you need without trading too much of your time. That is the balance that works best.
Why Most Business Owners Get This Wrong
I hear from business owners every day who are earning more than ever before but do not have the time or energy to enjoy it. They blew past the income they actually needed and kept pushing for higher numbers that did not improve their day-to-day life. They sacrificed too much of themselves in the process.
The irony is that most of them started their business for freedom. Then somewhere along the way, the pursuit of revenue replaced the pursuit of the life they originally wanted.
If that sounds familiar, it might be time to revisit what "enough" looks like for you. You might find that you are closer than you think, and that the real opportunity is not making more money but reclaiming the time and energy you are spending to earn it.
Energy: The Resource That Makes the Other Two Worth Having
You can have all the time and money in the world, but without the energy to enjoy them, neither matters. This is the part of the time money energy equation that most people neglect until it is too late.
To show up with consistent energy, I focus on four areas: sleep, exercise, diet, and passion.
Ask yourself: if I could instantly improve my energy each day, what would change?
Pick just one of these 4 areas to optimize first and it will unlock more energy to invest in the others.
Sleep: The Foundation of Everything
When I was 28, I hit full burnout from my job and struggled with intense insomnia for a year. It started to feel impossible to get a good sleep, and I felt like a zombie for months. Dragging myself through days with barely enough brain power to function.
From that experience, I learned that when my sleep is off, everything else is harder. I skip exercise, I am less focused, it is easier to crave sugar. Every other resource suffers.
Since then, I have made sleep the most important foundation of my health and energy. The habits that support my best sleep are:
No phone or screen time for 1 hour before bed. I read for 30 to 45 minutes and meditate for 15 minutes before sleep each night to quiet my thoughts.
I never wake up to an alarm. I wake up naturally when my body is ready and do not rush into work. I will often read or go for a walk before starting work for the day. This helps me sleep better and wake up with more focus.
I take magnesium to relax my body for a deeper sleep and aid in muscle recovery.
I do not drink alcohol after 7 or 8 pm to avoid disrupting my sleep.
Combined, these practices have helped me sleep an average of 8+ hours per night and dramatically improved my energy each day.
Exercise: Move Your Body in Ways You Enjoy
After sitting most of the day, I need to move my body and get out of my head. I do 1 hour of physical exercise each day, including weight lifting, HIIT workouts, yoga, bouldering, and running. It is all about moving my body in different ways and not overexerting in any single exercise.
At 35, I am more focused on longevity and mobility than maximizing strength. I also like to walk for 30 to 60 minutes a day in nature to clear my head and stay present.
When people say they do not like exercise, I believe it is because they have not found the right type for them. There are a million ways to move your body, and the biggest life hack is finding ones that you enjoy so it never feels like work. For me that is bouldering, squash, and hiking.
Bonus points if you can connect it with socializing or community.
Diet: Simple Rules, No Guilt
I follow one simple rule that has helped keep me healthy without sacrificing my enjoyment of food. When I am at home, I eat as clean as possible with minimal snacks, junk food, or sugar. That means about 80 to 90 percent of my meals are protein plus vegetables, and I start each morning with my favourite smoothie.
But when I am out of my house, I can eat anything I want without feeling guilty. So if I am at a friend's house or a restaurant, I am never afraid to enjoy the burger and fries, beers, or baked goods.
This balance has worked very well for me over the years to support my health and cravings.
Passion: The Energy Multiplier
We all know the feeling of being lit up when we are working on something we care about. Time flows by with ease as we lose ourselves in the activity.
We also know the feeling of being bored out of our minds, watching the seconds tick by and wishing we could be doing anything else.
Since the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our days, and work takes up roughly a third of our average day, I decided to pursue work that I love. I get to spend my days coaching business owners, writing, and learning about the things that excite me.
As business owners, we have the opportunity to focus on the work we do best and let go of the rest. We can delegate and automate the work that drains us in order to double down on the work that energizes us. This is one of the most powerful moves you can make, and it is something I work on with every coaching client. If you want to understand how that process works, read about how to master your time as a busy business owner.
How to Start Balancing Your Time, Money, and Energy
These are the keystone habits I have built my life around to live each day to the fullest. Of course, like anyone, I fall off my rhythm and miss days. But I always return to the routine because it is an investment in being healthy, happy, and wealthy at all ages.
Here is a simple exercise to figure out where to start.
Rate your current satisfaction out of 10 in each area:
Time. Do you have enough free time to enjoy your life outside of work? Do you feel in control of how you spend your days?
Money. Are you earning enough to live comfortably without constant financial stress? Do you know what "enough" looks like for you?
Energy. Do you have the physical and mental energy to show up fully for the things that matter? Are you taking care of your sleep, movement, and nutrition?
Whichever one scores the lowest is your starting point. You do not need to overhaul everything at once. Pick one area and make one change. That is how real transformation happens: one step at a time.
The Real Key: Stop Trading One Resource for Another
It starts with valuing our time more. Time is our untapped wealth. We will never have more time than we do today because each day we get older. You will never get it back, so make sure you use it wisely.
Find a way to earn the money you need to live comfortably, but do not get lost in the pursuit of higher numbers that do not improve your day-to-day life.
And take care of your energy so you can enjoy the time freedom you have worked so hard to create.
The conventional wisdom says you cannot have time, money, and energy all at once. That is only true if you follow the conventional path. The business owners I work with have proven that a different approach is possible, and it starts with one simple decision: to stop accepting the tradeoff and start designing a life where all three resources work together.
If you are feeling out of balance and want help figuring out where to start, book a free growth strategy call and we will map out the biggest opportunities to reclaim your time, money, and energy over the next 90 days.
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