Time is one of the few limited assets that each of us has considering the fact that we only have that much time in our lifetime. Once spent, we can never bring it back. Nobody can turn back time…well, not yet anyway. That is why I personally feel that time is the world’s most valuable resource for any single person. But funnily, whenever you ask someone what kind of gift does he/she want to get from another person? It’ll surely be a luxury item, gadget or money because to them, these are the best gifts one could ever get from another person.

Unfortunately, they’re wrong. The biggest gift someone can give you is not money, gadgets or any luxury items. It is their time. Yes, that limited asset that everyone has in their lifetime – the asset called TIME. For example, when someone invites you over for a lunch, it means he is pushing away other more important things to spend the time with you. When a company calls you up for a job interview, it means the hiring manager is giving you his precious time out of his busy schedule, just to see if you are suitable for them. When someone answers your phone call, they are giving you their time to hear you out. And when a customer comes to your store to ask some questions, he is giving you his time and the opportunity for you to help him out.

In fact, I consider time to be equivalent to life itself. If you are wasting someone’s time, you are wasting someone’s life in this world. Similarly, if someone chooses to give you time (by interviewing you or meeting you), that person is giving you a small part of his life in this world. Now that I put it this way, time does sound like a very important gift, no?

If that doesn’t convince you still, let me tell you a story which I’ve read somewhere.

John lives in a small house together with his lovely wife Joanne and his 5-year-old son Michael. Every morning, John would give his son some coins, in order to encourage his son to save money. And then he’s off to work and would only be back late at night. Oh, and he has to work on weekends too. It was a pretty tiring life for John but he has to do this in order to let his family leads a comfortable life in the city. Then one day, when he came back home from work, his son approached him and asked if he could give more coins. John was furious but kept his calm. He asked his son how much did he want. Upon hearing the question, his son took out a piece of paper and a pencil and started to scribble some numbers. His son then asked him “how much do you earn in a day?” And John got even angrier and started to scold his son. Then Michael started to cry and said “I just want you to be at home with me and mum for 1 day”.

Okay, maybe I didn’t write the story properly since I couldn’t remember the full version. Hahha. Sorry for that but well, you get the meaning.

So the next time you want to give a gift to someone, always remember that the biggest gift you can ever give is your time. Spend your precious time with the person and invest part of your life in them. I’m sure most of them will appreciate it.

But of course, if you can give them some bonuses like handbags, gadgets, etc… that will be even better.