One Year, One Minute
My perception of time is changing. 2024 felt like the fastest year yet, perhaps you felt the same way. With this perceived acceleration, I realized I had to make the most of small pockets of time. So, with the turn of the calendar in 2025, I’m committing to the same change I made in 2024; making changes in 1 minute increments. If you’ve followed our newsletter long enough, you’ll know we’re not big fans of new year's resolutions because sweeping change is hard to sustain. Rather, we’ve been preaching the effectiveness of making changes that last. These changes usually come in bite size pieces. Popularized in their book, Switch, Dan & Chip Heath helped popularize the idea of “lowering the bar,” to help make change a bit easier.
If you’re wondering what you can actually change in 1 minute, here are seven things I tackled last year.
#1: Balance
If I had a free minute, I would stand on one foot. At first, I was wobbling around. Then, after a few weeks of practice, I was holding a full minute with my eyes closed. Now, I practice this just once a week to maintain the ability. That’s the beauty of this, it is easier to be in maintenance mode than it is to be changing. Once you achieve your first goal, it will be less of a burden and allow you to focus your energy on your next goal.
#2: Flexibility
I didn’t have many deficits in my range of motion, but thinking long term, I want to lock in my ability to move with ease now, so it’s not a problem as I get older. I’ve always been able to bend over and touch the floor without bending my knees, but after stretching for 1 minute a day, I can now put my entire palm flat on the floor with ease.
#3: Mobility
Following an old sports injury, my left hip hasn’t liked internal rotation. I’ve had a smoother motion on my right side ever since. After practicing a “90/90” drill rotating my hips for 1 minute each day, I can now move with more symmetry. I didn’t start on the floor though. I began on an elevated surface supporting my weight with my hands. I slowly lowered the height until I was on the floor and then took my hands off the ground. Bit by bit, 1 minute each day, I slowly saw improvements.
#4: Cold Tolerance
I must admit, I recently stopped doing this because it’s just too cold outside. I will try to resume this practice when we get above single digits. Anyway, at the end of my daily shower, I would crank the temperature all the way down, and endure the cold. At first, it was such a shock I found it hard to breathe. Then, each day I could tolerate it for a few more seconds. Slowly, I worked my way to one minute and eventually the entire duration of the shower. Forcing the body to obey the mind has a positive carry over into any domain that requires discipline.
#5: Better Food Choices
I’ve been making protein shakes for a while now but realized I needed to add more veggies to my diet. To my delight, I found that adding spinach doesn’t negatively affect the taste, just the color of my shakes. So, I’ve been throwing in a few cups of spinach in the blender each day and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. If this doesn’t sound significant, this simple change led me to consume over 700 more servings of veggies in 2024 compared to 2023.
#6: Deep Breathing
Meditation has become one of my favorite parts of the day. I now do 10 minutes daily, because I enjoy it so much, but I started with just 60 seconds. Sitting in silence in the calm moments of the morning not only helps set the stage for the day, it also serves as a potent dilator for my lungs. I feel like I breathe better the rest of the day following my meditation. Start by sitting quietly with your eyes closed for one minute. Simply focus on breathing in and breathing out. It really helps me relax, hopefully you’ll feel the same way.
#7: Better Sleep
It took me about one minute to take out the old light bulb from the lamp on my nightstand and replace it with a smart light. The smart light allows me to control the color and brightness. When I get into bed and read before closing my eyes, I slowly dim the light every few pages. This helps me drift into sleep. Our brains perceive bright light with being awake, so I set my environment to aid me in sleep.
I listed all these examples because I wanted to spark your imagination. What small change can you make in your life that will lead to a better outcome? Forget the pressure of a big new year’s resolution, how about making a small lasting change? What can you commit to for one minute each day?