Hello,
I'm Aaron Huebach and I want to share with you this 5 minute rule that has changed my life.
I've integrated this into my everyday life and it has changed it for the better.
In our busy lives,
We have so much to get accomplished and it always seems like there's not enough time to do everything.
You may try to stay organized and you might even have a to-do list.
And if you have a to-do list,
It might be very long and you may do little things at a time.
But that list always seems to keep growing and never get cut down.
I've mentioned this 5 minute rule in a few of my courses here on Insight Timer,
But I want to share this here on this track as I think if you can focus on this,
You too can see a positive impact in your life.
Now would you consider yourself a procrastinator?
If you do,
This will help you.
If you don't consider yourself a procrastinator,
I'm sure you've sometimes put things off and maybe fell behind on the things you need to do.
So what is this 5 minute rule?
The 5 minute rule I'm referring to is stated as this.
If the thing you're thinking about putting off to do later will take 5 minutes or less,
Stop what you're doing and do it now.
So what does this mean?
Basically if something is going to take 5 minutes or less,
Just do it now.
Let me walk through some examples in different settings.
In a work setting,
This is excellent.
For example,
If you deal with emails from coworkers or managers that is asking for something,
You might have a tendency to put it aside and say,
I'll do it later.
The problem with something like this is that the amount of items that you put aside may grow into an even larger to-do list.
And another problem is that you could possibly forget to do the item even if you mark it for a reminder.
So if you get a request of some sort,
Ask yourself,
Will this take 5 minutes or less?
And if the answer is yes,
Drop what you're doing and finish the item.
Now the 5 minute is just an indicator or a guideline.
So it can be about 5 minutes or so and not exactly,
But you can still do it.
An example in a more personal setting is something as simple as doing the dishes.
They may start piling up and now it becomes time to do the dishes.
Again,
You may get a tendency to say,
I'll do it later or this is the thing I'll do at night.
Now loading the dishes in the dishwasher or even hand washing them could take anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes,
Depending on how much you have.
The 5 minutes is an indicator or a guideline.
So you can take this as the 5 minute rule and say,
I'm dropping what I'm doing and just do it now.
Then you can come back to the item you are currently working on.
So as you can see,
There's a variety of things you can apply this to.
And if you're ever thinking about doing something later or get a request,
Ask yourself,
Will it take 5 minutes?
Like I mentioned,
We have very busy lives and every little thing we do adds up.
I found that taking care of an item right away with the 5 minute rule is better than collecting all the things you need to do and then at some point,
Take the time to do all of them together.
When you collect all the things to do together,
It becomes a big combined set of time to do many items.
There are some ways that it has changed my life and how it can help you as well.
There's no more feeling of procrastinating and getting things done feels great.
The next thing is the item is immediately done and does not become another to-do item on this ever-growing list.
The next one is getting done immediately gives you a sense of accomplishment,
Even if the item is as little as doing the dishes.
You also have more time to focus on the larger items that you need to do when those little things are out of the way.
And the last thing is,
There's this different positive feeling I have at the end of the day because I was able to get a lot of little things done over the course of the day or week rather than having the items pile up.
It's like a feeling of decluttering where my time then appears to be more free for relaxing.
So hopefully this is something you'll give a try and something that will have a positive impact on your life.
It might be tough to do this where you drop what you're doing and do the quick five minute item.
Now this may not be for everyone because you might have a system and you collect your to-do list and methodically finish those items in your own method.
This is just a different take on how to get those items out of your way and declutter your list.
Thank you for listening to this audio and best of luck to you with the five minute rule and your journey here on Insight Timer.
