If you want to lose my attention in a sales pitch or negotiation say these words to me: “I know your time is valuable.”
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I recently told the T-Mobile representative on the phone the other day: “My biggest hope is that we all find out time is not as valuable as we are told.”
And, I mean that. I really don’t think time is valuable. I give it away all the time. While I always value my time it is never as valuable as our time together. Never. The whole idea of needing alone time might be an argument against this. Wrong. It is an argument FOR this.
When someone needs alone time it is because they cannot handle the value of being with others. They need time to themself. To re-calculate. To ensure that time together is not commodified. Alone time, makes together time more valuable.
So, if you meet with me and you say, “I know your time is valuable.” What I hear you saying is our time together is not as valuable as the thing you obtained for free: yourself.
The self is great. It’s a billion, if not trillion, dollar industry. WIth all these different mediums producing content for self-help. The irony could not be more laughable. It’s not self-help you are really after. You are after social-help. The problem isn’t that you don’t know how to be yourself. It’s that you don’t know how to integrate yourself into society.
Author: Jeff Donnelly
Game Designer. In both business and life, the potential is limited by the number of transactions available. Life is like a game. Jeff designs games that allow people to realize their full potential.