Much can be done in an hour

Have you ever figured out just what an hour a day represents? How often have you wanted to do something but said, “I didn’t have the time”?

In this age, it often seems that there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish the things to which we aspire. The result is that we abandon the idea. Yet the world is full of people who, through sheer determination, have found ways of setting aside at least one hour a day for creative self-development.

Often, the busier the individual, the more likely he is to be one of those who creates a daily hour of “time for private thought.”

If you devote just one hour a day on a project of your own, you will give it 365 hours a year or the equivalent of more than 45 full working days of eight hours each. This is like adding one and one-half months of productive living to every year of life.

Many people have written best sellers, learned a foreign language, invented a money-making product or accomplished countless other ambitions just through the utilization of one hour a day.

When I was managing our small marine business for 40-plus years, this “one hour a day” concept was considered similarly. Our business income was predicated on hardware sales and, most importantly, billable hours from our service and installation staff. Each of our six technicians would work an eight-hour day; typically, four or five hours were billable each day. At the time, we were charging $100 per hour.

Suppose each technician could invoice just one more hour each day; that would be an additional $600 a day times 20 days or $12,000 a month. Even if you could only increase the numbers by 50 percent, an extra six grand a month goes a long way.

For all the business owners and managers out there, think about your and your employees’ efficiency numbers and what you might do to increase their ability to be more productive. One hour a day in one’s personal or company life can make an enormous difference.

The opinions expressed above belong solely to the author and do not represent the views of the Boulder City Review. They have been edited solely for grammar, spelling and style, and have not been checked for accuracy of the viewpoints.

G. Kevin Savord is currently a professional pilot and former small business owner. He can be reached at gksavord@gmail.com.