Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset—And Everything’s Trying to Steal It.

Your time is money, freedom, and life itself. So why is everything designed to waste it?

@itsjessmytwocents

You can always make more money, but you can never make more time. Yet everything around you is designed to steal it.

And trust me, I didn't think that was true. I always thought it was impossible to make a lot of money without the right degree, circumstances, opportunities, or connections.

But because that's what I believed and saw day-to-day in life, I thought so many things weren't worth even trying for, and I instead gave up my time to what would give me dopamine, and that was games and entertainment.

We live in a world where doom scrolling is the default, where gacha games demand daily tasks, and Netflix encourages binge-watching, your most precious asset—time—is slipping away without you even noticing.

It happened to me for years, and I regret it now.

That's why I want to help you identify the hidden time thieves in your life and how to take back control, so you can spend your time building something real, creating memories, and becoming the person you want to be.

The Real Cost of Time (And Why It’s Priceless)

Time is like a currency, except it's a currency you can never earn back. Imagine you are born with a jar and it's filled with magical coins, and every single task you do requires one of these magical coins.

Maybe you want to make a new friend, that's one coin. Maybe learn a new skill, that's a coin. Maybe you want to find a loving partner, that's a few more coins. And really visualize this jar keeps losing coins over time until it's empty.

Time becomes money, memories, skills, and experiences—everything meaningful in life.

The issue with modern-day life is that we ignore the value of time. We trade it for distractions because, in the moment, time feels limitless.

We say “I’ll do it later” until far too many years have passed.

The Hidden Time Thieves

There are so many distractions in this digital age that are designed to rob our time. Genuinely, in my work as a digital marketer, I had to learn a lot about what makes people want to stay locked in on an app, or an experience that they don't need.

So let's address each issue and what we can do to combat it.

Doom Scrolling (YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels)

Short-form videos are designed to keep you endlessly consuming content. They are specifically designed to maximize user engagement. These platforms use algorithms that continuously serve you content you are likely to watch, and that encourages you to keep scrolling.

The longer you stay on the platform, the more ads you are exposed to, which directly increases the platform’s ad revenue.

This is known as the ✨attention economy✨, where user attention(your precious time) is treated as a valuable commodity, and platforms optimize their content delivery to capture and maintain your focus for as long as humanly possible.

Basically, watching random videos is like eating junk food for your mind.

✨Challenge:

Instead of doom scrolling, search for intentional content. This means intentionally putting in a term and searching for a topic. Like one motivational video per day that pushes you to take action.

The idea isn't to stop watching content, but to have intentional watching versus brain-off passive watching.

Gacha Games (Like Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves, and Mobile Games)

Gacha games use FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and daily quests to keep you consistently playing. They are designed with addictive mechanics like randomized rewards, pretty characters, flashy graphics, and limited-time events.

These things are meant to pressure you and make you feel like you must log in every day or miss out on something valuable.

But think of it like this: In 5-10 years, it won’t matter that you unlocked every character or collected every skin. Those achievements won’t change your life.

✨ Challenge:

Play games for fun, not obligation.

Skip the daily quests without guilt. Set a time limit for gaming, and remember, the real rewards in life aren’t virtual.

Streaming Services (Netflix, YouTube, Disney+)

Binge-watching is a business model. Platforms use auto-play, cliffhangers, and personalized recommendations to keep you watching. They want you to stay glued to the screen, letting hours of your limited time slip away.

I know it hurts to think about this, but those hours spent watching can never be recovered.

Those are hours you could have used to work on yourself, develop bonds with others, earn more money, or create something meaningful.

✨ Challenge:

Replace one episode per day with reading, spending time with your loved ones, working on a skill, or exercising. If you must watch, choose something educational or inspiring.

You don't have to get rid of watching shows, just mindfully put limits on how much entertainment you consume per day.

Jobs That Steal Your Time (Without Fair Pay)

Your time is your most valuable asset, but low-paying jobs try to buy your time for pennies on the dollar.

Now, don't get me wrong, these jobs are a good starting point, but they are not meant to be your permanent job.

This is the “hustle culture” trap, where you stay in a comfortable cycle and trade your life for someone else’s dream while your own goals stay on hold.

✨ Challenge:

Start a side hustle, build a skill, or invest in something that earns for you.

For example, let's say you are a cook, you enjoy cooking, but have been stuck in the cycle of staying in someone else's kitchen. Instead, build towards saving up for a food truck, where you make the menu and call the shots.

Your job can always find another cook, but you won't always have the chance to pursue your dreams.

Use your spare time to create your own opportunities, not just to fill someone else’s schedule.

Social Media Notifications (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Social media apps are designed with constant notifications to pull you back in. Each like, comment, or message gives a tiny dopamine hit, and that is what keeps you hooked.

But responding to every notification or post distracts you from real-life goals and takes away your ability to focus on what's important—you.

✨ Challenge:

Turn off unnecessary notifications. Set specific times to check your social media, and stick to them. Use your time and focus on something that brings real value.

Recognizing Your Time Management Traps

It can be impossible to fix a problem you don’t see. So let’s bring your time management thieves into the light.

Self-Awareness Exercise

1. List everything you did yesterday and how much time you spent on each activity. Be honest.

2. Highlight anything that didn’t add value to your life. And by value, I mean did it help to improve your health(mental or physical), your relationships, or your quality of life?

   
   

Spotting the Traps

• Did you watch videos or scroll without purpose?

• Did you play because you wanted to or because you felt you “had to”?

• Did you mindlessly scroll without learning anything?

• Did you check your phone every time it buzzed?

Reclaiming Your Time

First, you'll need to set boundaries for yourself. At first, it's not going to be easy, but if you can do these, they will change your life.

Choose to do at least one intentional thing a day that benefits your personal goals. Whether that's one action that's towards a health goal, one action towards a work goal, or one action towards a relationship goal.

The idea is that one action done daily compounds over time. Don't worry about making a schedule or trying to block off time, because that doesn't work.

Just focus on one action that benefits and elevates your life per day. That's it.

Building a Life Where Time is Yours

What do you want most out of life? What do you want to learn? What would you like to build? Prioritize those things and create time for at least one action towards them per day.

If it's that you desire more time with your child, do one thing extra with them per day, maybe instead of playing a phone game, play a console game with your child. Even if you only play one round or match, that one action versus inaction will compound to build memories that last them a lifetime.

If you want to be a content creator, then just do one action a day towards a video you'd like to create. And if you're a writer or want to build your blog, write one paragraph a day until the post is ready (I do this sometimes).

Replace mindless time with purposeful actions.

Time is a gift, and while the potential inside you is endless and abundant, your time isn't.

You are in control. Not the games. Not the apps. Not the content. You.

My Final Thoughts

Your time is your most valuable asset. The same way you have to wait for a seed to grow to enjoy the benefits of harvest, you need to put the work into yourself more than dopamine hits. Don't just give away your time.

Try giving yourself a "Time Audit" for one week. See where your time is going, and take it back by incorporating just one action a day that helps you achieve something you truly want out of life.

You have a lot to offer the world, let that potential unearth itself from within you, one choice at a time.

That’s just my two cents on the matter.

Until next time,

-Jess

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