Stop Thinking of Time As Money

Forget what your college business professor told you. The old adage “time is money”—i.e., don’t waste time or you’re wasting money—can actually make you unhappier. According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, subjects who were asked to track their income as an hourly wage reported that leisure time (like surfing Facebook) was less satisfying. Plus, subjects who viewed time as money enjoyed listening to a beautiful song less because they felt more impatient. But when they were paid to listen to music? Surprise, surprise, their impatience evened out.