The Right Minute

Bad sleep can lead to a cascade of consequences. When I wake up late, I feel groggy. I get annoyed that I start work so late, and then because I’m already aggravated, I’m more easily distracted. Another hour of pointless web browsing later I get even more angry with myself, and maybe, hopefully, eventually, after lunch I can reset and get to work. But it doesn’t have to work out this way.

It only takes a minute to go from angry to calm, to stand up and leave the house, to realize more time wasted won’t change the past. This minute, the right minute, can happen anytime.

When we pretend it can’t, our fate feels preordained. Ultimately, however, we’ll go down the wrong path because we chose to walk it. Of course we could have turned around at any point! We only decided not to because we didn’t believe it was possible. That was the only condition we were missing.

It only takes a minute to put out your cigarette and decide that it was the last one ever. That’ll make another minute soon very hard to get through, but neither is worth postponing.

It only takes a minute to lift your son’s house arrest, go to his room, give him a hug, and apologize because, actually, you were wrong. It’s never an easy thing to do, but it might pay emotional dividends for decades to come.

It only takes a minute to close all your tabs, take a deep breath, and start over on the task you actually meant to work on. Lost time always sucks, but no matter how late in the day you turn the ship around, if you do, you’ll go to bed feeling proud of having done your best.

The right minute can happen any time. It is not magic — especially when it most feels like it. You are writing your story, and we are just the audience. Believe in your power to change, and tell it exactly the way you want to tell it — one minute at a time, without ever giving away the ending.

Grab a copy of Nik’s book, 2-Minute Pep Talks.

2-Minute Pep Talks is a collection of 67 jolts of inspiration for more hope, comfort, and love in any situation. With more than two months of daily inspiration across five categories, 2-Minute Pep Talks will make you feel more comfortable in your own skin, remind you to love yourself enough to ask life for what you truly want, and provide you with the world’s scarcest resource: hope. Whether you’re looking for a pick-me-up, new perspectives, or more fuel to accomplish your dreams — if you’re ready to regain that light, passionate, optimistic feeling we all used to possess as children, this book is for you.

AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON!

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This post was previously published on Niklas Göke’s blog and is republished on Medium.

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