What Would You Do If You Had an Extra Day to Live?

Did you notice that last Saturday was February 29? That means we all had an entire day added to your life last week. That is because the current year, 2020 is a leap year. As it happens every four years, February had 29 days. So, just before we had our “extra day” last week, the question occurred to me. What do we do with this extra day that we get every four years?

Time Famine

This is how some authors call the feeling we all experience (at least in the Western world). It seems we are always short on time, running from one thing to the other, never catching up. Author James Gleick states,

“The more we fill our lives with time-saving devices and time-saving strategies, the more rushed we feel.”

Some productivity researchers have identified that only 13% of people feel like they have enough time in their hands. Honestly, I don’t know who these people are. As far as the rest of us are concerned, we know for a fact that we don’t have enough time for all that we need to do, 

What Would You Do?

So, if you actually had an extra day to live, what would you do. Here are a few possibilities.

1. Rest & Recreation. This may sound lazy, and even downright irresponsible to all the driven leaders reading this, but resting replenishes our energy for the future. Also, have you ever thought of the deeper meaning of the word “re- creation?”

2. Learn a New Skill. You could invest the extra day into equipping yourself as a leader, as many of the men and women do when they attend one of our ILI events around the world.

3. Time with the Family. That would be a strong statement of family priority. Investing that extra day in building strong family relationships would be a worthy investment of that gift of an extra day.

4. Volunteer. Spending the extra day serving in some charity or serving those in need aligns well with Christian values and would add meaning to that extra time you were given.

5. Binge on Streaming TV. OK, I am not suggesting this, but I am sure many would consider catching up to their favorite tv series a high priority for that additional day.

Of course, you and I know that February 29 was not really an extra day that life is giving us. The leap day we had last Saturday was actually an adjustment, because our calendar doesn't align perfectly with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. In any case, it is fun to imagine that an entire extra day would be added to our lives every now and then, so we could do one or more of the things above (even binging on Netflix).

On the other hand, if those are important activities we would choose do on our fictitious extra day (except for #5, or course), why not make them a priority in our lives, separating time for them in the 365 days that we do have?

What else would you do if you really had an extra day added to your week?