Impact Hour

I listen to podcasts or audiobooks pretty much every day – while walking, doing puzzles, or driving (three activities I seem to spend a lot of time doing).

I’ve gotten addicted to a podcast called Primal Potential. I found it because I was trying to figure out how to lose the menopause/COVID/drinking-too-much-wine-weight that is not going away even though two out of those three causes have.

The podcast comes out twice weekly. Elizabeth Benton, whose books I’ve also read (and recommend), talks about improving your health, weight, relationships, money situation, business, and family management. What really resonates with me are her words of wisdom on productivity, attitude, and becoming a better thinker.

An episode I recently listened to hit all those buttons. It was about a concept called ‘Impact Hours.’ She gave credit to another author/productivity expert (whose name escapes me at the moment) for introducing her to the idea.

Basically, the concept is that if you choose one hour each day and focus exclusively on one goal, you will see great progress. Even if you can’t spare an hour (and c’mon, you can. Just put down the phone/turn off Netflix/stop surfing), you could dedicate 30 minutes, or even just 15 minutes and you’d see progress.

We all waste so much time every day; it’s epidemic. Whether we’re scrolling social media, shopping online, watching mindless television, or trying to find/edit/post the perfect picture of our food/dog/new shoes. Time is your most precious resource – live like it.

I know this concept of an Impact Hour is true because I discovered it long before Elizabeth Benton and the author-whose-name-I-can’t-remember. Fifteen years ago, I wrote my first novel over the course of three months of working on it for an hour every day during naptime (it wasn’t published for nine more years, but that’s a different story…)

And if I could find an hour every day back when I had three kids under age 7, was single-parenting most weeks while my husband traveled the globe, worked a part-time job, managed our little farm, and took care of far too many animals, I can find it again.

One dedicated, uninterrupted hour will have a much bigger impact on your goal, than scattered time here and there, or waiting until your schedule lightens up or your life gets easier (SPOILER ALERT: It won’t.)

It’s a simple idea. After listening to the podcast, I decided to go all in and dedicated one hour six days a week to work on my new novel. I’m amazed at the momentum this has created, and with it—progress!

What could you dedicate one hour a day to? Imagine the progress you could make. It’s time to stop dreaming of accomplishing a goal and get on it. I challenge you to find your own Impact Hour project – what could you change/improve/achieve?

I’d love to hear about it.

Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’ve got lots of options, so thanks for sharing a few of your minutes with me.

Honored,

Cara

My latest novel, Blind Turn is a mother-daughter story of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. Learn more about it and find out how to get your copy here.

If you’re curious about what else I’m up to, check out my website, CaraWrites.com.

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And If you’re a dog lover, check out my other blog, Another Good Dog. And if you want to know what is really happening in the animal shelters in this country, visit, Who Will Let the Dogs Out.

I’d love to connect with you on Facebook, twitter, or Instagram, and I’m thrilled to get email from readers (and writers), you can reach me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.

I also write ‘dogoir’ (memoirs involving dogs). Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs is the story of our family’s adventures in fostering dogs for an all-breed rescue. 100 Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues tells the story of a challenging foster dog who led me south to figure out where all those dogs were coming from and why. Both books are available anywhere books are sold, but if you’d like some help finding it (or want to read some lovely reviews), click here.