The Gift of Time

Once a year we get an incredible gift – by the grace of whatever consensus that gives us the return from daylight savings time, we get to re-do an hour of our lives.

Sure, for most of us this occurs in the middle of the night, as clocks are set back at 2 am. And if you’re chronically fatigued like I am, you probably spend this precious hour sleeping. But think of it. What if you could use that hour to undo an argument, take back a harsh word, or remove yourself from a conflict? What if you could push against the obstacle just one more time and this time gain the breakthrough?

What if you used that hour to pause all the fear and worry, and look instead at what you’re grateful for, and at what makes your life content, if not wonderfully happy? What could taking advantage of this gift contribute to you?

Or, an even better question is, how might you use this small bit of extra time to contribute to making someone else’s life better?

Often, it’s not the big efforts that define a life, but the small, daily, unnoticed and unapplauded ones that create who we are on the moment to moment basis. It’s the unconscious, reflex reactions that are the evidence of what we truly value, and we rarely stop long enough to really examine how are beliefs and assumptions are getting put into action.

An hour is enough time to think a new thought, change perspectives, give forgiveness, voice an apology, ask for what you want, or finally own your power. It’s enough time to make a new commitment to yourself, and to specify at least three action steps for accomplishing that.

An hour is enough time to begin to change everything. How will you use your gift of time?

Economic Anxiety: A Prompt to Be More Creative

Show of hands…Anyone out there NOT feeling anxious for your business security? There’s no way to ignore the fact that business as usual is at least in limbo, if not in process of reconstituting itself.

You probably have heard that the Chinese character for crisis is made up of two elements – danger and opportunity – signifying the two mental approaches that can be taken in crisis. We can be consumed by the fear of danger, or we can look for new opportunities.

While the economy is reorganizing it’s a good time for sole proprietor business owners to think outside the old box and pigeon holes you’ve been operating with up to now. Ask yourself these opportunity oriented questions:

• Is a new client niche emerging for me from this crisis?
• What “dead weight” is this situation pointing to that I can eliminate?
• Where can I leverage my skills and efforts to maximize the available potential income right now?
• How can I work smarter, not harder?