Waking up to my world of Just 1 second faster…
What is the Value of 1 Second?
Before we go into that, how about 1/100th of a second? Doesn’t feel like much?
But there was a time that a 1/100th of a second did matter – to Michael Phelps, Milorad Cavic, Olympic Team USA, Serbia, and the sporting world. It is the difference between a gold medal, world recognition, and even more.
The world only remembers the champions – the best, the fastest, the strongest… The second in place may not even get half the recognition, and the fourth fastest, strongest athlete in the world doesn’t even get a medal or media exposure at the prize ceremony.
Every Second Counts
If we live in the movie “In Time”, you would realize the importance of every second, with every second ticking away on your arm, especially if you have a very limited amount day to day.
For those who missed the movie. It is a world where everything is paid for by time. When your time goes to zero, you die. Our hero in the movie, starring Justin Timberlake, lost his mother by a split second as they failed to share their time at the very last moment.
And compared to the rich people in big cities, they were living in the suburbs; their behaviors are different too, especially in day-to-day routines like walking faster than others.
This is a mindset that every second is not only important but precious too. Every second should be spent wisely, fully maximized. People tend to cherish things that are either lost or very limited.
1 second can mean a difference between life and death, glory and failure, or even between now and the next second or the previous one that you just spent reading.
What matters is what does 1 second mean to you?
What Faster by 1 Second Can Do For You?
To most of us, it is a never-ending race – Time never stops. Every second I am trying to outsmart myself.
Imagine a day where you missed the transport to your next destination by a few seconds; those few seconds cost you a few minutes to a few hours or even days. And maybe then, the “If Only…” regrets start to kick in…
- “I get out of bed earlier just by a few seconds”
- “I washed up faster by a few seconds”
- “I had a slightly faster shower by a few seconds”
- “I had my breakfast slightly faster or on the go” (May not be good for digestion though)
- “I had prepared my stuff earlier or the night before”
- “I had done my morning “rituals” faster or earlier”
- “I walk at a faster pace, even if just by a few seconds faster”
- Etc, etc…
“All these seconds faster, I would have been on time! And why didn’t I thought of it before…”
You Are Your Best Competitor
I applied this to theory when I ran my first marathon too – Even when walking, I make sure I am walking faster than others. Thus helping me cut down my timing.
For a decade, I have not run past 3km in a run, and without much preparation and “good gear”, I considered it quite an achievement finishing with 6hrs 33mins.
It doesn’t matter what you are doing, as long as you keep yourself at a faster pace. It gets your action going and helps you gain momentum faster. And by doing things faster, you will tend to be more focused too.
People function differently. For those who thrive in a competitive environment, we can aim to beat someone.
Having a competitive target can be a very strong motivation. Even if you are the world’s fastest, you still have competition with yourself (your personal best record) or the one closely behind.
Even if you are the world’s slowest, you still have your own timing to beat. So in essence, you are actually in competition with nobody but yourself.
Challenging yourself instead of others will take away much expectation, stress, and thoughts of giving up, as you may not be as good as a competitor who is better trained or conditioned. It will at least get you started. There are many ways to a goal; choose one that suits you or at the least, one that you can be comfortable with.
That’s my personal strategy to getting things done faster: Challenging myself to do everything faster, even if it is just 1 second faster – it will do.