37,869,120 minutes. That seems like a lot, but it goes by fast. The average human life fits inside that number. Some of us will have more. Some less. And none of us knows which. But all of us are moving through it, a heartbeat, a breath, a minute at a time.

Tick tock. The day goes by. What will you do with your minutes?

It’s easy to disappear into the blur of it, the meetings, the tasks, the reports, the inbox. I catch myself sometimes celebrating a “got through that” feeling, collapsing into the end of a day like I won something. But won what, exactly? Did I savor any of it? Did I notice what mattered?

Like gems, every movement of the minute hand has a precise finality to it. It is spent. Every minute is minted into eternity. Whatever happened in it, the conversation, the decision, the distraction, the moment of real connection. It’s permanent now. It’s yours forever.

Tick tock.

So, here’s what I’m asking myself this week, and I’ll ask you too: not did I get through it, but did I show up for it? Was I present? Did I do what mattered?

Every minute is a gift, not a resource to optimize, but a moment to inhabit. Live them to the fullest. Spend them well.