A few weeks ago, my clock spoke to me. Not literally, but it did speak to me.

It was a night like any other night. I had just finished taking a shower and had begun massaging my skin with moisturizer. While I sat on the edge of the bed, I noticed the screensaver on our television was moving around to random, various positions on the screen. I watched it as the time ticked on:

8:13:36

8:13:37

8:13:38

For some reason, I kept watching. And as 8:13:59 became 8:14:00, the clock spoke to me. This is what it said:

Hours, minutes, and seconds are all needed for time to progress. They are infinitely and thoroughly linked together –each one dependent on the other. For hours to progress, minutes have to progress, and in order for minutes to progress, the seconds need to keep moving. If there were no seconds (the smallest of the three units), minutes wouldn’t exist. If minutes didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have hours. Although small and seemingly insignificant, seconds really do keep this whole show going.

Additionally, hours take the longest to change. It changes very slowly but has the greatest impact. As my husband said when I told him about this moment of epiphany, “a meeting starting an hour late or an hour early is very different from a minute late or a minute early.”

So what lessons did I learn from this?

Connectedness, of course. Connectedness in and of the people around us and in the experiences we have and the lives that we lead. We are all dependent on each other. As much as we would like to think that we lead lives separate from each other, the truth is, what even one of us does matters to an infinite number of people. Jeff Bezos is but one human being, but that one human being created something that benefits and affects millions. Each one of us, in our respective places, likewise have something to contribute to this world –much like each unit of time.

Each unit of time changes at its own pace –hours taking the longest to change and impact the progression of time. If you are feeling like things aren’t progressing fast enough for you, be encouraged by the hours. Maybe things are progressing a bit slower for you because the impact that your life, your business, or your book will have is going to be far-reaching and groundbreaking.

I’m encouraged by my clock, and I am grateful that I was present enough to hear it speaking to me.