What "Time Investment Method to Increase Annual Income 10 Times" taught me: To create meaningful time, please prioritize doing things that are interesting and profitable.
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I like reading books very much and have bought many books. Recently, when I was sorting out my book collection, I accidentally came across a long-dusted book “Time Investment Method to Increase Annual Income 10 Times (opens in a new tab)” by the well-known Japanese writer Katsuma Kazuyo (opens in a new tab)’s works. Thinking about it, I haven’t read her book (opens in a new tab) for a long time.
Kazuyo Katsuma (opens in a new tab) once obtained the qualification of accountant at the age of 19, the youngest person in Japanese history. As a single mother of three children and a full-time office worker, she has obtained an MBA in Finance and Business Administration and various certificates. In 2007, as a financial expert and knowledge expert, he compiled his years of experience and published nine books in one go. Five of the books have all entered the top 25 on Amazon Japan’s bestseller list, including “Learning method to increase annual income 10 times (opens in a new tab)”, “Don’t save money in the bank (opens in a new tab)”, “[New. Three books including “Knowledge Production Techniques” (https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010434249 (opens in a new tab)) sold 100,000 copies within a month and became a big topic in the Japanese publishing industry.
Re-reading “Time Investment Method to Increase Annual Income 10 Times (opens in a new tab)”, I very much agree with what she said: time cannot be managed, but must be used for investment. God is fair, no matter you are rich or poor, there are only twenty-four hours in a day. And Li Xiaolai (opens in a new tab) also said that the value of concentration is far greater than time and money (opens in a new tab). Since we cannot improve concentration, we should protect concentration and “invest” scarce resources in the most critical things.
Personal business models, can be divided into three major categories:
- One time is sold once: for one hour spent, you earn one hour of money, such as teaching, etc.
- Sell one time multiple times: It also takes one hour, but you can make money multiple times, for example: online courses, publishing books, etc.
- Buying other people’s time and then selling it: that is, you pay others to do it, and the time is spent on other people’s time, not your own. From the perspective of time efficiency, what you are thinking about is the actual output of your investment in buying other people’s time.
Compared with the time management books in the market, the author particularly emphasizes the importance of the following three points in the book “Time Investment Method to Increase Annual Income 10 Times (opens in a new tab)”:
- Taking into account the balance of principles and techniques.
- Focus on “things not to do” rather than “things to do”.
- Quantify the results and detect the effect.
I think friends who have been involved in the topic of Time Management (opens in a new tab) should be somewhat familiar with “The Four Quadrants of Time Management (opens in a new tab)”! Kazuyo Katsuma pointed out that many people spend most of their working time on “consumption time (urgent but important)” or “wasted time (urgent but not important)”; occasionally they want to relax, but spend the rest of their time on “wasted time (not urgent nor important)”, and do not take sufficient time to manage “invested time (not urgent but important)”.
Therefore, Katsuma Kazuyo (opens in a new tab) tells us that we should increase the “investment time” and not let “time thieves” (such as: long work hours, long commutes, dependent activities, meaningless interpersonal relationships and indecision time) steal precious time. Time is limited, we should give priority to doing things that are interesting, profitable and good at, and we must insist on the results of each unit of time, and we must also seize the opportunity to learn.
Looking at the “time investment quadrant chart” again, the author recommends that we spend more than 30% of our time on “investment time”, and the sum of “investment time” and “consumption time” is “meaningful time”, which must exceed 80% of the time.
As I get older, I also begin to realize what the author said, “There are limits to your own abilities.” To use your time properly, you start by investing your time. Especially if you have a wide range of interests and many dreams that you want to realize, and hope that you can do more things more efficiently, then you must fully seize the time!
You cannot avoid impermanence in life, you can only seize the moment (opens in a new tab).
Further reading
- Reading experience of “If you want to be busy, be busy meaningfully”: Leave the best time to yourself and create a heart-pounding feeling
- I watched “If you want to be busy, be busy meaningfully”: Leave the best time to yourself and create a heart-pounding feeling
- “The Best Year: 5 Steps to 100% Achieve Goals, Make Plans No More Empty Words” Recommended Preface: Set feasible goals and start designing your own future
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Vista Cheng speaks and runs workshops on AI workflows, writing and content systems for companies, schools and public agencies.
