It is amazing what a difference and hour can make. An hour is enough to have a job interview that launches your career, do a presentation that changes lives, or make a decision that becomes a defining moment.

About six months ago I did a talk for a few hundred people in a large organisation facing significant change, restructuring and retrenchment. I still get emails from people whose faces and names I don’t know but with whom I connected that day and whose lives and jobs I was able to improve. That hour was just one of many I spend on stage, doing my job like everyone else, but it made a big difference to that business and to mine.

Often all I get is an hour to add significant value to an organisation, or educate and entertain an audience, or speak on the radio, or write an article, and so I am a specialist at delivering the goods when it counts. Plenty of focus goes into preparing for the occasion, and plenty of energy goes into delivering results, all of which revolve around a window of just one hour. I earn a living from making a difference in that time.

Last year I took a step towards a life-long dream and played my first gig as the drummer in a band. One minute I stood nervously on the cusp of an exciting challenge, risking failure in pursuit of success, and an hour later, I was a new man, one who could finally and joyfully call himself a musician. I have since played more shows and the band is steaming ahead into the next chapter, all because we made it happen when it counted.

As you progress into a new year full of promise, may you have the wherewithal to make it happen when the defining moments come your way.