Investment is a big word.

Not in the number of characters, necessarily, but in the change of our own character that happens when we decide there’s a better life to be lived. I’ve spent a lifetime in a career helping people navigate the biggest financial investment of their lives. Starting a successful mortgage company when I was 24 is an accomplishment that makes me proud.

But there’s a bigger form of investment that is even more important to me. I call it the Minute Movement and I am passionate because I know that when we finally make a decision to change for the better we need tools and support to help us shake the stale habits we’ve come to feel comfortable in so that we can create a life we dream of living. At least I did.

I’ve been where so many of my clients are now. I’ve been in that dark place, plagued by depression and despair, and I’ve felt discouraged and defeated. We all know feeling lethargic, disengaged with life, and anything but optimistic is no way to live, but I too have lived that way.

My turning point was my brother’s wedding. Call it vanity if you must, but when he asked me to be his best man I wanted to truly honor that commitment. I didn’t want to just go through the motions of a holding a ring and making a toast; I knew that before I could be his best man, I had to become the very best man I could be.

What started as a way for me to squeeze physical activity into my busy life as a devoted father, adoring husband and driven professional became less a task and more a mission when I started to quickly see results. I realized that I could use my own experience to help others make small but truly meaningful steps in their own pursuit of a better life.

I’ve known from a very young age that life is short; sometimes shorter than anyone anticipates. I first learned that when I was just 10 years old; my sister, my rock during my parent’s divorce and the glue that held everything together, died in a car accident when she was just 16.

The death of someone so close is devastating, but losing my sister taught me that each and every breath is precious. Every minute is a gift, really, trusted to us to either squander or celebrate. My sister’s death defined life for me, and I carry with me the understanding that it is our choices — the seemingly small and the obviously immense — that create our lives.

I’ve carried that understanding with me as a father, servant and husband. I marvel at the fact that no matter how different our lives may seem, we all share the one same limit in life. Time. The difference is how we each choose to spend our time.

Some use the lack of time as a roadblock, an excuse to stick with what isn’t working because it’s safer than what might work.

Not me.

I’ve never been one to think that something can’t be done just because it hasn’t yet been done, and that’s what drove me to the revelation that we really can change our lives in a minute.  No matter how different our schedules or how busy our days, we all have a minute.

One minute.

It’s how we choose to invest that minute that matters.

Minute Movement capitalizes on that minute, cuts the fluff and focuses on one thing only: improving the physical health we all need to be a better person in every aspect of our lives. That minute makes me a more involved dad, a more loving husband and a more focused entrepreneur. It means I can give more than I get, and that’s what ultimately matters to me.

What will your minute mean to you?