TIME BILLIONAIRES

I was thinking this morning..... about being a billionaire. When we hear that someone is a billionaire, what comes to mind is dollars and naira (for those of us in Nigeria). Nigerian singer, Teniola Apata, popularly known as Teni had in 2019 released her buzzing single titled 'Billionaire.' In the chorus, she said 'I wanna be a billionaire. Billionaire, yeah yeah.'

Yes, we all want to be billionaires, but what many don't realise is that almost everyone is born a billionaire. If you are thinking dollar and naira again, then listen. Last week I came across the concept of 'Time billionaire'. One billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years, so if you are over 32 years of age, that means you were born a 'time billionaire'. Teni was born 23 December 1992, meaning she will be 29 years in less than 4 weeks from today. According to statistics, the average human lives for 79 years, meaning Teni has at least a decent 50 years (about 1.6 billion seconds) more on earth. Teni currently is a multi-time billionaire, yet she was praying to be a billionaire.

I won't blame her because society values dollar billionaires more than time billionaires. We overvalue dollar billionaires and undervalue time billionaires. Truth is, time is the most precious asset in the world.

Just over a week ago, Sani Dangote, the younger brother to the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, and Vice president of Dangote Group, died after a brief illness in one of the best hospitals in the United States. At the time of his death, he was a naira or even dollar billionaire, but he wasn't a time billionaire. He ran out of time. Warren Buffett is a dollar billionaire with net worth of about $105 billion, but  he is not a time billionaire (he is 91 years old). Being a dollar billionaire cannot translate to time billionaire because you can't buy more time. But your time can bring you billions of dollars if used productively. Everybody has equal amount of time in a day. No one can re-acquire time once it is gone.

As a time billionaire, how do you spend your time? It is estimated that on the average we spend 26 years of our lives sleeping, 13 years working, 8.3 years watching TV, 3 years on social media etc. Ask yourself, if your 1 billion seconds is equivalent to 1 billion dollars, will you spend it frivolously?

If you were a time billionaire and you blew your billions, do not despair. You can still enjoy the millions left by spending wisely. Don't waste your time doing something you hate. Make time for God, family and friends. Psalms 90:12 says 'Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.'

Stay hopeful. God's got your back.

Happy Sunday.

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey