Li Xiaolai on Investing Time Wisely | Generated by AI

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Question: What is the full quote by Li Xiaolai (李笑来) that says “only invest time in things that appreciate in value over time” (只把时间投入到随着时间增值的事情上)?

Answer:

Li Xiaolai’s Quote on Time Investment

The phrase “只把时间投入到随着时间增值的事情上” (“Only invest your time in things that appreciate in value over time”) is one of Li Xiaolai’s (李笑来) core philosophical principles, most prominently expressed in his works 《把时间当作朋友》 (Making Friends with Time) and 《财富自由之路》 (The Road to Financial Freedom).

The Full Concept Behind the Quote

While this phrase is often cited as a standalone maxim, it is deeply embedded in a broader framework Li Xiaolai teaches about attention, time, and money:

注意力 > 时间 > 金钱 (Attention > Time > Money)

Li Xiaolai argues that money can be regenerated, time essentially does not belong to you (it passes on its own), but attention is the one resource you can fully control. Therefore, the correct priority ordering is: Attention > Time > Money.

What “Things That Appreciate Over Time” Means

Li Xiaolai specifically identifies several categories of time investment that gain value over time:

  1. Self-growth and learning — Put your attention on your own growth; put your attention on your true loves (whether people, things, or causes); and put your attention on things that genuinely contribute to society.

  2. Compound/compounding skills — All success is essentially the same: spend considerable time and energy locking in a direction or goal, confirm it is realistic, then invest more time in that direction — more than “more” — and make time your friend along the way. When time has accompanied you long enough, it will give your patience its due reward. What others call “luck,” we know has only one name: “inevitability.”

  3. Knowledge that doesn’t decay — Information like neighborhood gossip depreciates rapidly — useful today as conversation fodder, worthless in a week. But the content of a good book remains usable as conversation and reference no matter how many years pass.

  4. Avoiding time-wasting traps — The three great enemies of attention are: aimlessly joining the crowd, anxiously following the herd, and obsessing over other people’s affairs.

The Underlying Principle

Every person’s time and energy are finite and conserved. Only by putting your most precious time into the most valuable things can you create maximum returns.

Wherever your attention goes, your wealth follows. All wealth — whether material or spiritual — is ultimately excavated from your own time.

Source

This principle appears across multiple Li Xiaolai works:

References:

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