There are two common hurdles that stand between people and the changes they yearn for in their lives: time and money.

That it will take a not insignificant investment of time and money to achieve one’s desired results can be a tough pill to swallow.

Ours is a culture that prefers shortcuts to hard work and band aid fixes over sustainable solutions. And there is an endless content supply available to us touting and tutorial-izing these resource-poor changes. Get shredded abs in five seconds! Get a perfectly organized home in a week! Your step-by-step, commitment-free, effortless guide to fixing your life, for absolutely, completely free!

Sure, a person can employ a short cut on the cheap.

They can keep buying more plastic bins instead of spending the time to thoroughly edit their stuff, can keep buying cheap, poor quality goods that fail quickly rather than paying more for higher quality, longer lasting offerings, can keep taking in the old engine for repair rather than buying a new, more powerful one, can keep running at breakneck to keep up with their busy schedules instead of pausing to examine where they’re wasting time, can keep making do without necessary upgrades and keep suffering the consequences.

These short-term actions will sting less in the moment. They’ll pose as being cheaper, quicker, easier. And, usually, they will uphold the status quo. But they won’t get you ahead.

All those cheaper purchases and corner-cutters add up…often to more than a fewer, better quality purchases and intentional, constructively used time.

In a fittingly counterintuitive twist, the best way to save money is often to spend money, and the best way to save time is to spend time. The best investments are usually ones that surpass short-term needs and expectations and, instead, pave the way for lasting, life-giving, vitality-supporting results.

Nothing is free in this life. And if there’s one thing you can be count on, it’s that the bill always, eventually comes due. You pay in money or you pay in time or you pay in wellbeing. Take care that you spend these forms of your energy wisely.