It is easy to delay ourselves by just one minute. We hit the snooze button on our alarms, or we just need to finish off this one task before we start with the next important task. And that’s how we get delayed, a minute at a time.

What if, instead, we’re merciless with time like the clock is? A minute is a minute is a minute, and once the day is over, minute by minute, we can’t have it back.

When chasing an important deadline, we know that we need to prioritize, and we cut out all non-essential tasks. We make those minutes count. Ironically, by cutting out the non-essential tasks when on the critical path, we create more time for them when we can. That way, we can get both done, a minute at a time.