Are You Ready For The One-Hour Challenge?

This evening, I did my third swim squad training session for the year – big turnout of about 20-25 with new faces. Coach Dion instructed us with swim sets that included warm-up, kicking, and front-crawl with fins, paddles and pool buoys. It was a short session, yet it did the job for me as it tapped my physical abilities and taxed my energy, without exhausting me completely. I was pleased to finally include fining as one of my swim drills, and learnt that it was not easy. Working new muscles, it is analogous to running unshod. I think it is a deliberately good attempt to balance dorsi-flexion and plantar-flexion function of our lower legs, as our muscles do risk imbalances from working on one plane only (from running and riding).

One hour, albeit short, does allow much to be accomplished if we focus on disciplined efforts. The results can be revealed as a sense of accomplishment and achievement. My thanks go out to triathlon partner, Hui Koon for twisting my arm in psychologically-creative ways to join this class.

Here’s a challenge for you: give yourself a task that is somewhat complex and aim to complete it within an hour. It can be a simple yet challenging task as doing your chores in one hour. How much can you accomplish? Clean your house: give it a good vacuum and a committed wipe-down, followed by removing the thrash. Do an easy one-hour run. You can write the bare bones of a business proposal, or revise a training manual in those 60 minutes. You can call as many people as you can over the telephone, or on Skype. Send out as many well, thought-out e-mails to you friends, business associates and family to keep actively in touch. Be high-tech and higher-touch!

An hour carved from each day is a discrete packet of time and possibility. It is how we use our time purposefully that allows us to do more, with less. Lead with your time.

Total time to write this: 30 minutes