“YIPPEEE an extra hour of 2020”, said no one ever.  But like it or not, an extra hour is exactly what each of us received this weekend as daylight savings time came to an end and we all set our clocks back on Sunday.  So now the question we each have to ask ourselves is what will we do with our extra hour?

For starters this weekend I was able to use my extra hour to finish decorating my Christmas tree and put up my other holiday decorations over the weekend so that was a plus.

I was also able to begin my Christmas shopping early, which I was told is a must do this year if you want presents to arrive in time for the holidays…at least that is what my kids have texted to tell me several times now…   🙂

I was also ready for bed an hour earlier than normal, which may not sound like a very big deal, but for a night owl who stays up far too late into the wee hours of the night and who sleeps far too late in the mornings, getting to bed an hour earlier is a very big deal. As much as I loved daylight savings I really needed this fallback of an hour to encourage me to start going to bed sooner and I need the morning daylight to help get me out of bed earlier. As the poem goes “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” and I’ve come to realize that is more than just a rhyme, it’s truth.  An early bedtime and an early morning makes for a better rested body, mind, and spirit.

If you are wondering if one extra hour is really that important just consider what Earl Nightingale said:  “If you spend an extra hour each day of study in your chosen field you will be a national expert in that field in five years or less.”   

Make your extra hour matter.

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )