What are You Doing with Your Time?
13 Mar 2020 · 9 min
Thomas Anglero argues that the two hours most people save from not commuting during lockdown shouldn't be wasted. He walks through concrete ways to use that time: writing, exercising, reaching out to customers, building your business.
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Hello and welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am the host Thomas Anglero, and my mission for this podcast is to share with you those private thoughts and reflections that I have being one of the top keynote speakers around the world on technology, motivation, and innovation. I hope you truly enjoy all the lessons I share, all the dots I connect that sometimes are just really difficult to get out but it's all for you. I truly hope you enjoy this episode.
Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. This is Thomas Anglero, and last night I watched my neighbors pack their cars and with all their ski equipment because they were celebrating the fact that right now this global outbreak of this virus was the biggest and best thing that ever happened to them because they're all on vacation. Let me tell you, I mean, last night my neighborhood as if thought it was Christmas Christmas, or it was New Year's Eve. There were so many lights going on and music going on because everybody's like, yeah, we could work remotely, you know, we could log into our company's VPN and log in with the instant messenger and everybody see that we're green. But really, I'm gonna be on the slope skiing and all that stuff that, you know, I'm so pissed at my neighbors. Not because of that, I'm pissed at them, and I'm probably— and I'm pissed at you And if you listen to me, I'm pissed at you because this is the way I see it. All right. I have a 1-hour commute to my job. That means every day I use 2 hours to commute. That means right now, because I'm working from home like everybody else, we're demanded by the government. We or you have 2 extra hours in your day. You were just given 2 more hours to your day. For you to do whatever you want. What the hell are you doing? What are you doing with your 2 hours? You see, you complain all the time, or you have a low self-esteem, or you don't feel good about yourself. You have just been given 2 hours to do something about that. See, this is the— I see this as a glass half full type of thing. If you're quarantined to your home, you can't leave your house, you have 2 hours to do and accomplish the things that you haven't done before, to make the difference. You can go for a walk for 2 hours if you're not happy with the way you feel, the way you look. You can make sure that you drink a lot of water during those 2 hours. You can make sure that you pick up the phone and call somebody who you haven't called in a long time for the next 2 hours. Every day you have 2 hours, 2 more hours to accomplish, to plant a seed in the ground, in the mind of somebody that will grow into the future and will grow and reproduce for you greater happiness. What have you done with your 2 hours today? Do you understand where I'm coming from? What are you doing with your 2 hours? I'm trying to make you feel guilty because if we're stuck at home here for the next couple of weeks, and this is gonna be going on for the rest of time, right? There could be more and more outbreak. So this, this, this podcast episode is gonna last forever. You have more time. What are you doing with your time? I want to make sure you don't spoil your life and spoil your time. Don't be like my idiot neighbors who all took off to the mountains to go skiing, to these small little towns that probably have the most infected people because that population is so concentrated. Idiots. And all the ski slopes are closed anyway. Idiots. And yet when I see them, when they're not in the ski slopes, they're always complaining at the mailbox. Idiots. The reason I'm calling them idiots is because this is their time, man. This is your time. This is the time you could be doing all these amazing things, making a difference in people's lives, making a difference in your life. Hey, maybe you have an attic or basement that you needed to organize and you have 2 extra hours of time. That's good. That's an investment, right? If you're a guy, maybe— if you're a guy, you could be a woman too, it doesn't matter. You have a man cave. We all know the whole joke about a man cave. You always want to create a man cave. Go start your man cave. It'll make you feel better. What are the things you wanted to do? Maybe you wanted to write a book. You got 2 hours more time. What are you doing for you with your 2 hours? Do you get it? Let me tell you, here's a short story. This morning I met with a guy, he owns a company that they detail cars. They put on this plastic film on top of the car and protects the car for 10, 20 years. It's beautiful. His company has grown in the last 2 years tremendously, but because of the outbreak and nobody is allowed to work, he has a very slow period right now. And he asked me, Thomas, what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? He says, we're moving to our new facility because we've grown so much in the last year, but we have no customers. What the hell am I supposed to do? I go, man, that's a blessing. Everybody's at home, everybody's online, everybody's looking at everybody else online going, what are we supposed to be doing? You have the attention of the world. Write your story. Tell your customers how much you thank them for the last 2 years in coming to you and being dependent upon you. Tell your story. Bond with your customer. Show them video of you moving so that when the whole thing is over and they come back to your new facility, it's a celebration not just of you but of them, of the relationship you have with your customer. What a wonderful period of time you have now. Do you see how I turned that? What can you turn in your life so that these 2 new hours that you have in your day, you could turn your life around? What can you turn in your life now during these next 2 hours that can turn your life around? I want you to have that perspective. This is super exciting. Last story. A lot of the airlines around the world, their stocks have been absolutely destroyed. One airline of all the airlines in the world, Delta Airlines in the US, the CEO went out and said, we care about you. These are the things we're doing during this horrible period of time. We care about our customers. We're acting as diligent as we can. We're cleaning our airplanes. We're reviewing our processes and procedures so that we provide you with the best service during this crisis and most definitely after the crisis. What a powerful statement. And do you know Delta Airlines stock is going down, but not as much as the others? Do you know his customers will be loyal to him for decades to come? Well, to the company doesn't take much. What are you doing during this time? I know these two examples I gave were based on companies, but as a person, write your book, go for that walk, go for that walk with a friend outside, have that talk, take some pictures of your kids, write that poem. This is your time. What can you do with your time now that will turn around your life forever? This is not a sad time. This is a wonderful time for you. What are you doing with your 2 hours of time to turn your life around? Go forth, spread beauty and light, and turn your life around. Until next time.
Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.
