Time, Talent, & Treasure: What It Reveals About Your Character

What we pay for, invest time in, and volunteer for speaks volumes about what we value. So it is true for our characters. (click to tweet!)

It was quite catchy to hear it stated that this is our TIME, TALENT, and TREASURE.

It's easy to use money as an indicator of value. It's measurable in a dollar amount, and one can erroneously conclude that the higher that amount, the greater the value placed on what was paid for or contributed.

But that's not the case. Wealthy individuals can give money that cost them virtually nothing, and certainly don't convey what they are passionate about. I know individuals who sponsor children for about $30/month....and this costs them. They feel every dollar they give.

Time can be measured, as well. Hours, days, weeks. Volunteering for something you're not passionate about makes the hands on the clock s l o w down....while volunteering for something you are passionate about makes them fast forward. 

What's not so easy to measure is talent. It goes hand-in-hand with time, as it takes time to give of your talents to any endeavor. But we don't give or our talents and gifts equally. We pick and choose when and where and for how long we'll serve in a given capacity.

For example...I sing and play the piano. I value my commitment to church, and so therefore give of my talents there and sing in a praise team and play the piano ever-so-often when called upon or there is a need. I don't get reimbursed for this time.

If I were to be asked to play for a wedding of a close friend, it would be my joy to serve them with playing and/or singing. However, if I were asked by someone I didn't know, I'd definitely charge for this time and for the use of my services.

The difference is that my values come into play. My value of friendship or of my faith makes the same talent offered different.

So here are some questions to ask your characters, in no particular order:

1) What types of fund raisers would you be most likely to ignore or most likely to participate in? Why? (those magazine scams, gift wrap, band booster candy bar or gift wrapping sales, giving money for the kid with cystic fibrosis whose family placed a jar next to the cashier at the grocery store, supporting a university alumni association, etc)

2) What non-emergency would make you dip into your emergency fund to give to others? (friend needs rent money or they'll be evicted, you see a homeless man on the street, etc)


3) What would compel you to give up a Saturday or an evening after a hard day's work volunteering Why? (manning a soup kitchen for an hour, helping a friend move,

4) When you aren't at work or home, where do you spend most of your time? (shopping centers, church, bar, friends' houses, etc)

5) What hobby of yours would you let a friend/loved get for free that you normally make other people pay for? Why? (i.e., beading, event planning, playing the flute, landscaping, etc)

Moral values play a huge part in what characters support with their time, talent, and treasure. (click to tweet!)

Let's Analyze

What are some other indicators of something you value?

What Does Your Character Value?

I ran across this quote yesterday, and it, coupled with something said by someone I highly respect, led to this post today. 

“Many of the things you can count, don't count. 

Many of the things you can't count, really count.” 

 ― Albert Einstein

 
I know Albert's a genius, and all that, but I'm not sure I agree with this. 

Everyone counts multiple things every day, whether you are consciously aware of it or not. Most people have a running tally of minutes and pennies in their mind, because the world seems to revolve around money and time. Do these things count count?

I think that's individualized. I don't value money as much as I value time, but the old adage, "time is money," rings very true for me. So perhaps I do value money more than I thought.

What about the other things you can count? Here's some counts involving time that might not come to mind initially, but how many people do you know define themselves by one of these below?

1) months sober
2) years since an act of abuse or being diagnosed with cancer
3) years married/separated
4) birthdays of your children
5) anniversaries of deaths

As to things unrelated to time, like:

1) number of states/countries you've visited
2) how many movies you've seen
3) how many signed first edition books you own
4) number of techno-gadgets you stood in line for to buy
5) number of suicide attempts

Where am I going with this post, and why should you care?

People count what they care about. If they didn't care, they wouldn't keep up with the count. Can you see how any of the above examples could be something that a person defines themselves by? A recovering addict keeps close watch on clean time, the same way someone who suffers from PTSD due to a rape would count the passage of time since that event changed the outlook on their life.

A film critic would naturally count movies seen, as would a traveler the number of states. They easily could define each of themselves by these values.

My current character in my YA counts the number of years she has gone without being kissed. For her, this lack of experience defines her.

What about your character? What does s/he  value? What do they spend their time counting, whether they consciously realize it or not? Is it something tangible, or intangible?

And once you've figured that out, how can you impact their ability to count it--value it--through your plot? Here are three ideas to help you brainstorm:

What could change how they count what they count?

Say a military man on the front lines counts number of lives saved. Could an injury get him honorably discharged and unable to count this particular category in this way anymore? Now he'd have to find some other way to meet this need, because his counting has been categorically changed due to a limitation he suffered.

What could take away what they count? 

Say an employee counts the number of reports done a certain way since being hired. Could a new boss come in and declare that report no longer needed, taking away her feeling of worth and productivity? making her counting category inherently change in some way as to throw the meaning out for her?

What could disrupt their ability to count?

Say a woman counts the number of animals she could rescue in an community, because rescuing them feeds her need to take care of something else besides herself. Could a freak storm or flood render this counting useless for several weeks?

Let's Analyze

Have you ever thought about the fact that we count about what we care about and value? What's one thing YOU count?