Daylight savings in the spring. The weekend of one less hour of sleep that comes once a year. I used to think about this as a “lost” hour. In the spring, the opposite is true. We leap ahead by an hour with time moving forward faster than any other day of the year. And every day we live, we have one day less in our lives.
There is freedom in acknowledging this. It frees us to prioritize and say no to things that don’t align with our values. It frees us to live an inspired life filled with conscious choices. It frees us to make the most of every moment.
We can quickly be caught up in the stress and demands of daily life, particularly in professions such as healthcare. Sometimes, we need a shoulder shake to wake up to the reality that we don’t have forever to accomplish our goals or do the things on our bucket list. It requires discipline, focus, clarity, and actions that move us toward our goals and dreams. By changing behaviors, we can do better with deciding how we use our precious minutes here on this planet.
I write a lot these days about adherence. It is a significant challenge we are facing in healthcare. Adherence is really about a behavior change. To improve the quality of our life, we typically need to improve or change one or more things. To make these changes, we must first reduce stress. When we mindfully choose how we want to invest our time, we are aligned with our values. Doing so reduces stress as we know we are living more on purpose and more intentionally.
What’s one action you can take to manage your precious time better that would reduce your stress? What goal can you move forward with the energy you save from feeling overwhelmed? Now, go out and make the most of your weekend of one less hour. You can always make more of less!
