The Power of 1 Minute

Do you think you don’t have a minute to spare? You should think again. In one short minute, you can accomplish so much:

• Identify something you are grateful for
• Encourage someone
• Smile
• Do some stretching
• Listen to someone
• Observe what is going on around you
• Reflect on what you have learned today
• Say “thank you”
• Notice someone’s strength
• Take a couple flights of stairs
• Reflect on a favorite memory

And that is just a start, but you can see there are magical minutes that can help you, help others, or do both at the same time. Take the next minute and add three more things you can do during a magical minute to benefit yourself and others.

How to manufacture magical minutes

What if you feel so strapped for time that using your magical minutes seems impossible?

We all have the same 1440 minutes a day. If that is true, we can’t manufacture minutes, can we? Maybe not literally, but practically we can.

Most people I talk to have one thing in their life that they would like to do, but “don’t have time for” or would like more time for. If you feel the same way, I bet for many of those activities, if you had fifteen minutes to do that activity each day you would feel better about yourself and achieve more. Fifteen minutes can make that difference. Here are a few of those activities people mention to me.

• Read
• Exercise
• Work on a craft or hobby
• Write
• Meditate or pray

Fifteen minutes a day could make a real difference for you, and I am going to tell you how to find those minutes.

Some people would say, just get up fifteen minutes earlier or stay up fifteen minutes later each day. While that is logical, for most people it won’t work. Here is what will work.

If you normally get up at 6:30, tomorrow morning set your alarm for 6:29. Your body won’t miss that minute of sleep (like it might have missed the full fifteen). Get up and do something intentional with your new magical manufactured minute. Tomorrow, set your alarm for 6:28 and do something intentional with your two “found” minutes.

In two weeks (OK, fifteen days) you will have manufactured the minutes. Now all you do is use them for the activity you wanted to “find” time for. Voila! Chances are you can start using it for your chosen activity within the first ten days or so.

“Yes, but … who does that?”

You may be thinking that this all sounds good, but does anyone really think that way?

Most people don’t; but the people who are moving toward their goals, the leaders who are making the biggest difference in the world, and the people you look up to and admire likely do.

How people look at and value time is one of the things that distinguishes achievers from everyone else. Stated another way, achievers realize the power of a minute and use each one intentionally to help them reach their goals, feel better about themselves and be happier.

Maybe you aren’t ready to go all in with this idea. Maybe you feel this doesn’t give you any space to relax and take the world as it comes to you. You don’t have to go all in, just recognize that every minute you consciously make count will make a difference in your life.