This edition of the blog is about the thing that we can never get back, and never know how much of it we have left: time.
Your wealth, and to a degree, your health, can be measured, can be lost and regained.
But your time? well, we all get the same 24 hours in a day, but we don't know how much more of it we have in front of us when it is measured in days, months and years.
Unless we're very intentional about it, we often don't know how best to use our time, other than by doing the same things we do every other day.
Warren Farrell is an American political scientist, activist and well-known psychiatrist. However, it's not his story that we're going to examine in this blog post.
Warren had a patient come to see him and (paraphrasing) said this; "this guy came to me, very successful man, head of a business that makes millions, really doing very well. And he said, he was unhappy because he had worked all the way through his son's childhood, and he hadn't bonded with his son because he'd just been away at work. I said "Ok, what are you going to do?." He said "Well, I'm going to give up my job for five years, and I'm going to be at home with my kid. I'm not doing any of my work stuff. I'm going to be with my kid for five years. Just be in that moment. And he did it. And he was very happy that he did it."
Who was that man?
It was John Lennon.
His decision shocked the world, and his decision to step away from the limelight was unprecedented. At the height of his fame in 1975, he made the bold choice to prioritise his family over his career.
The birth of Sean in 1975 marked a new chapter in Lennon's life. He embraced fatherhood with an unparalleled devotion, reveling in the simple joys of spending time with his son. Lennon, who had experienced a turbulent childhood himself, was determined to provide Sean with a stable and loving environment, especially as he felt he hadn't done a very good job with his first son, Julian.
In an interview with the New York Times (link), he had this to say.
"Sean will be 5 and I wanted to give five solid years of being there all the time. I hadn't seen my first son, Julian, grow up and now there’s a 17-year-old man on the phone talkin’ about motorbikes. I was not there for his childhood at all. I was on tour. And my childhood was something else."
During his hiatus from the music industry, Lennon immersed himself in the role of a hands-on father. He relished in the everyday moments: teaching Sean to play the piano, taking him on outings to the park, and reading him bedtime stories.
He also said this about how it was to step away from his career.
"There was a hard withdrawal period, what people must go through at 65, and then I started being a househusband and swung my attention onto Sean. And then I realised, I’m not supposed to be doing something, I am doing something, and then I was free."
While some may have viewed Lennon's decision to step away from his career as a setback, he saw it as a necessary reprieve. The pressures of fame had taken a toll on him, and he longed for a sense of normalcy. Parenthood offered him the chance to reconnect with himself and his priorities, away from the glare of the public eye.
Lennon was asked if he feared not existing in the music world, because the saying goes "you don't exist if you're not in the charts", to which he replied:
"I just wanted to remember that I existed at all!"
Not long after his self-imposed break, Lennon's comeback was cut short when he was shot and killed outside his apartment in New York City, just weeks after the release of "Double Fantasy."
In a world obsessed with fame and fortune, John Lennon dared to defy convention and follow his own path. He showed that yes, the number of records sold or the accolades received can be measured and matter, but how you spend your time is also incredibly important, because you won't get time back. And for that, we will always remember him not just as a music icon, but as a devoted father and someone who was intentional about how we used his time.
Some observations and thoughts from this:
Lennon could empathise with what people must go through at retirement, when referencing "what people must go through at 65". That potential loss of purpose and sudden ample amount of time.
That period of 1975 - 1980 was to be the last 5 years of Lennon's life. If you could ask him posthumously whether he would have preferred spending those last 5 years with his wife and son, or making hit records and living the life of fame, which do you think he would have chosen?
Lennon could afford to take 5 years away, because he had earned well enough in his career and from ongoing royalties, that he didn't need to work. For those aspiring to be in this position (financial freedom), what will you end up doing with your time?
Work seemed to demand so much from Lennon that he craved normalcy and much simpler life. Sure, work for him was being a leader in the most successful band of all time at that point, but it was ultimately still work. The sights, sounds and smells might be different to what we all do for work, but ultimately it's not so different. His balance had tipped too far the wrong way and it needed to be corrected.
Following the last point, a direct question for you: are you spending your time truly intentionally, or are you doing the same as you always have, because that's what you've always done and is expected of you?
At first, you might think it a little odd for a financial planner to be talking about time and not money. The way I see it, these are just different currencies, which in the right circumstances can be traded. Money can be traded for time, such as building up enough money to retire early.
Being able to spend your time how you want is how I would define 'true wealth', so really our time and money are very much linked!
If you'd like to talk to us about your situation to see if Financial Planning can help, you can book in an initial consultation here: https://calendly.com/labfp/intromeeting
Otherwise, see you next time.
The information contained within this blog post should not be taken as financial advice, as it does not take account of personal circumstances, which would affect advice given. Should you wish to talk to us about personalised advice for you, we'd be happy to do so.