You should make your golden hour count

This month we are diving into content that can help us win with the goals we have set for ourselves.

Last week we established that it is not only performance goals that are key, we also need growth goals which enable us to become the person who can do the work required to achieve set goals.

We concluded that our growth goals are best tackled using a growth plan. 

This week we discuss what we can do during our golden hour. 

Although I am not a seasoned photographer, what I know is photographers have what they refer to as the golden hour or the magic hour. 

This is the coveted time shortly after the sun rises or sets. A great photographer knows this is the best time to capture photos that make clients smile.

For purposes of this article, I use the golden hour analogy to share what we can all do to programme our minds and set the tone for the rest of the day.

In his book The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning Elevate Your Life, best selling author Robin Sharma introduces us to members of the 5AM Club and how they use the first sixty minutes of each day. 

He observes that “in this time of exponential change, over whelming distractions and overflowing schedules, getting up at 5am and running the morning regime is an antidote to average”. 

Each of us may have noticed that when we get up early and use the morning to feed our souls and bodies we are able to handle the terrible traffic better and make the most of our commute.

In a world where many things call for our attention even before we sit at our desks, I reckon that we need to find a way to manage these distractions and make the most of our 24 hours.

This in my view is by making our golden hour count. It is not enough that we get up at 5am and then dive for our phones only to look up and what is left is a few minutes to get ready.

Or allowing the warmth of our beds to be the marinade for our excuses on a cold wet morning. 

Instead, we need to be intentional with what we do during this time so that we can see transformation and close the growth gaps we may have listed in our growth plans. 

We need to allow the words of the late Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius “early morning, when you are reluctant in your laziness to get up, let this thought be at hand: I am rising to do the work of a human being” ring in our ears each day.

According to Robin Sharma, we can divide this golden hour into pockets of 20-minute increments. He advises that the first 20 minutes be dedicated to moving our bodies. 

He advocates for intense exercise that will result in deep breathing and produce a sweat.

Why? Because this not only releases good hormones like dopamine and serotonin but also increases our focus as the brain is optimised which will later increase one’s productivity.

The second set of 20 minutes can be dedicated to reflection, and this differs for each of us.

Some people may journal while others prefer to pray or contemplate what they are going to do that day. The reason for this segment is it boosts your gratitude, which in turn increases your happiness and impacts positively on performance.

The final segment may be dedicated to personal growth. This is when one can dive into material that will move the needle in their growth plan. 

The benefits of this are numerous but my favourite is that it inspires us to go after set goals and increases our impact, influence, and income.

In my opinion what matters is not following this 20/20/20 formula to the letter but establishing what one can do to ensure that they use the golden hour effectively as it sets the rudder for the day.

Ms Rosette Wamambe is a transformational leadership coach with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team    [email protected]