This week I learned an interesting fact. Many apartments are now adding individual water meters to measure each apartment's water use so that the resident can be billed for only the water he or she uses. The intriguing fact is that after the meters are installed, the water consumption typically drops between 30-40% per resident.

Now that the water is no longer "free," the residents make the choice to use less water. The water was never really "free," of course, as the cost was added to their rent. But, after meters were installed, the resident's attitude changed from "Water is unlimited!" to "Water is costing me money!" The same amount of water was still available, however the consequence of using it is now directly "paid" by the resident. When the cost of the water is passed through the company that owns the apartment complex, it feels different than when the cost is directly billed to you!

The same situation happens when using water at a hotel. After all, who takes shorter showers in a hotel room than they do at home? No one I know! Because the water use is built into the room cost, showers can go from minutes to hours!

What might happen if, today, someone "metered" your time? If someone were to charge you for the time you used today, how would you use your time? If there was a cost that was directly related to your use of time today, you probably would use your time differently!

Your time can feel like free water at a hotel. However, time is not free. It's just that life has built the price of time into the cost of living. As you use water, your water meter counts how many gallons you use. As you live, life counts how many days you use. Depending upon your point of view, your "meter" is either counting up to a maximum number of days or down to zero days! Eventually, everyone's meter stops counting.

If you were to travel into the desert, the further you traveled the more valuable your water would be. The water is more valuable because of its scarcity. The greater the scarcity of a resource, e.g., water, diamonds, or gold, the greater is its perceived value.

Time is also a resource. The fewer the days that remain on your "meter," the more precious each day becomes. Since you don't know how many days are left on your meter, doesn't it make sense to make the most of every day? To make today the best it can be? You cannot control time, nor can you save it, or even conserve it. You can only control how you use the time you have.

If today you could see your "meter," and thus know exactly how many days you had left on it, would you make the most of today? Even if your meter had more days on it than you expected, knowing how many days you have left would probably change what you did today!

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