Everyone wants an advantage.

Most people want equality for everyone … except themselves. They do want everyone to be treated fairly, but they also long to have a special advantage in the world.

So where can you get that advantage?

In the area of time.

There are two different approaches to time.

All human beings are equal in relation to time. A minute is a minute, a day is a day, a year is a year, no matter who you are or where you live. The quantity of time available to any individual is fixed. In fact, time is the one thing that people the world over can agree on!

This, however, is a limited view. Most people aren’t aware that there are other ways to think about time. The predominant view of time regards it as a quantity. There’s another way of thinking about time, though, in which it is seen as a quality. For business leaders in particular, this distinction can make all the difference.

The quantity model.

If time is a quantity, then it’s limited to 24 hours a day. From childhood on, most people are pressured to make the best use of their time, to make every minute count, and when they join the work force, the pressure increases.

Those who think of time as a quantity live in a world of scarcity.

They’re always worried about keeping up or falling behind. They’re constantly nervous, anxious, even desperate, because they can always imagine more to do than they have the time for.

The quality model.

Time may be the same for everyone, but our experience of it isn’t. Albert Einstein once joked about his complex theory of time, “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute, and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.”

In other words, people do different things inside the fixed time periods available to them, and that completely changes their experience of time.

Inequality

When you live as though time is a quality rather than a quantity, and you arrange your activities so they are consistent with that view, you experience three things:

• Rejuvenation.
Regardless of what you do, you're doing something that gives you back energy, rather than taking it away.
• Productivity.
Regardless of what you do, you're getting a lot done. It's very satisfying.
• Preparation.
Regardless of what you do, you've had time to get ready for it. As a result, you become confident and calm.

The number one danger for business owners is fatigue

Fatigue is caused by becoming exhausted from living inside a quantity model of time. Shifting your business and personal life to a quality model is a major challenge because your results as a business owner, and your enjoyment in life, rely very little on the quantity of time you spend, and have everything to do with the quality of your time.

When you master the distinction between quality and quantity, you gain a tremendous advantage in the world.