Our friendship with Uncle Hayri doesn’t go back very far. The thing that binds us most to each other is the fact that we went to the same university. Before a “Public Finance” class, Uncle Hayri told the school a story about a visit by Sakıp Sabancı, one of Turkey’s great businessmen, and the story began with the question, “What are the two greatest assets in this life, Ozan?”.
I answered, “Health and intellect.” In fact, I was quite sure of this answer. Uncle Hayri laughed and added the following words;
“Sakıp Sabancı got up and addressed us: “Friends, you have two very big capitals in this life; one is honesty, and the other is time. Your honesty is a resource that you cannot regain if you lose it once, and your time is a resource that you cannot get back if you waste it once. For this reason, it is necessary and essential to evaluate and analyze them very well.” He said. Indeed, these are resources that cannot be recovered.”
Lying is the only thing that corrupts honesty, and it is an irrefutable fact that people lie. But when, why, and to whom we lie are within our control. In this regard, honesty costs you an opportunity cost. Time is nothing but an uncontrolled force that needs to be planned for, a force that, once lost, cannot be regained. For this reason, time should be analyzed and controlled like a cost. Remember, with every choice you make in this life and every moment you remain static, you create a cost for yourself that you will pay for later. The size and debt of this cost are directly related to your control and planning.
Economics has always been a social science and has always followed human economic activity. That is why this quote, which echoed on the walls of the Istanbul University Faculty of Economics on a snowy winter morning in 1978, is quite true. “In this life, the two most valuable assets are honesty and time.” Our effort will be to act rationally while using these resources and to draw the time plan as well as we can.
Best Regards and Wishes
