Welcome to The Stoic Ledger, a daily money meditation from one of the Stoic sages.

128/365: Seneca on returns on time

Penciled into our calendars are the obligations that consume our time like fires to a dry field.

When the obligation is met, the time is lost. It’s a simple equation. Spending time can be viewed from the lens of a capital investment. We look at capital investments from an ROI or return on investment perspective. What are my outlays and what are my returns?

A company would never accept a capital project without the expectation of return. We should be of similar mind with our time. Thinking, what is the level of return that I get from this time. Now the difference here is in the non-monetary characteristic of return.

Building bonds with your family represents a positive return. Fulfilling a request because you feel obligated is not. And it seems that most of the dings on our calendars come from these one-off requests.

Today arm yourself with the right questions to measure the ROI of your time investments. Ask, as Seneca did, for a full return on your lost time. Be strict with your expectations because those hours are yours and you’ll never get them back.