The Greatest Tax of Them All

I really hate paying taxes. When I see the waste in government at all levels, I think I would much rather find a good charity. Or give those tax payments to my church.

After all, historically God only required 10% of our income. Why does the government need so much more?

And yet I often find myself giving up something much more valuable - my time. I don’t give my time to the government. I just waste it.

Scrolling social media.

Watching some dumb show on TV.

Not putting things back where they belong. Then taking forever to find it again.

Spending time with toxic people

Making promises I can’t (or don’t want to) keep

Procrastinating

Spending too much time on little irrelevant details

I’m sure there are a host of other ways to waste time. Time is the one thing that billionaires may have less of than you do.

It’s definitely the most valuable commodity. You have a lot of control over what you do with it. And yet many elderly people have lots of regrets about how they spent it.

If I have to pay the government money in taxes, I always have a chance to earn that money back. If I waste time, I can never retrieve that time.

So I try to think of wasting time as a tax. Like other taxes, I really don’t want to pay it. If I catch myself scrolling too much on social media (as I just did searching around for background for this article and becoming distracted by the ‘clickbait’ around the video above), I tell myself I’m being taxed.

Likewise if I agree to do something I really don’t want to. I think of that person asking me for a tax payment.

Then, like my tax payment, I try to think how I can reduce it or eliminate it. Legally, morally and ethically.

If I have to make the ‘payment’, I learn from it. Try to see how I can avoid paying it in the future.

In my opinion, one of the worst time wasters is not taking care of your health. In the assisted living industry I see people waste so much time (and money!) on doctor’s visits, picking up prescriptions, arguing with insurance companies, filling out forms etc.

There’s a saying I heard - “A healthy person wants a thousand things, a sick person only one”.  Wouldn’t you rather spend your time enjoying life, rather than fixing what causes you pain?

And ‘chronic’ conditions can potentially screw up the rest of your life.

That’s why I am so passionate about diet, exercise and whatever you can do to stay as healthy as you can for your entire life.

I don’t want anyone to have to pay the ‘healthcare tax’.