Change Your Life In Just 5 Minutes!

 

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have a certain few tasks in life that you struggle to motivate yourself for. For some people it’s filing taxes, for others it’s writing that report for work, even small things like stacking the dishwasher. No one likes doing them and finding the motivation to get them done is tough.

I’ve tried many ways to tackle this myself with varying degrees of success. The best method by far has been a combination of two techniques that involve just 5 minutes of time.

 

Technique 1 is called the 5-minute rule. It’s very easily instilled in household culture so this one can apply to everyone you live with. It’s nice and simple, and all it involves is a tiny bit of discipline at the start.

The 5-minute rule states that if a task will take you 5 minutes or less to carry out to completion, you do it NOW. Not in an hour, not after a few TikTok scrolls, right now. As soon as you think of it you do it. 

This involves most simple household chores like putting the bin out, dusting that bookcase, doing a quick vac of a room, making lunch for work tomorrow, replying to that email, etc. etc. etc. The reality is you will sit down 5 minutes after thinking of the task having lost very little of your spare time, but the difference is you’ve achieved something, and you’ve made yours or someone else’s life tomorrow a little easier.

 

Technique 2 is one developed by cognitive behavioural therapists to tackle procrastination at it’s core. It might sound contraindicative at first but trust me it works. 

If you’ve got a longer task to do that will take 30mins+ and you’re struggling to get started, all you need to do if work at it for 5 minutes and then allow yourself a break. 

Yep.

Set a timer for 5 minutes and once that’s up, have a chill. 

The research on this shows that starting a long task is the hardest part. This method turns the task from a big scary looming task that puts your brain in to fight or flight mode and turns it in to something bite sized and manageable. Chances are your alarm will ring after 5 minutes for you to stop and you’ll keep going anyway because you’re in a state of flow. No worried if not though, you’ve started. You’ve earned the break. Just rinse and repeat.