WORKLIFEDESIGN

Sometimes Brilliant! ideas can come from the most unexpected of places.

I found the following Five Minute Rule to overcome procrastination from Page Lambert in the comments section of a blog about escaping from the slow death of an office job.

“My father, Loren Dunton (internationally recognized Father of Financial Planning) used to have what he called his Five Minute Rule to help overcome procrastination so that he was ACTING rather than AVOIDING. He knew that the hardest thing to overcome in terms of getting any project started, was INERTIA. So he played a game with himself: “Dunton,” he’d say, “you don’t have to write the ENTIRE article today, you just have to spend 5 minutes on it. Then you can go play 18 holes.” Then he’d set the egg timer for 5 minutes. He knew that once he’d invested 5 minutes on a project, he would’ve overcome inertia and created momentum. Usually, when the egg timer went off, he’d spend another half an hour, or maybe even an hour. But he also knew that at the end of 5 minutes, he could go play that round of golf!”

Source:  Page Lambert Comment on Tiny Steps Make Major Leaps at Escape From Cubicle Nation, 8 December, 2009

As someone who has been on BFF terms with procrastination in the past, I love this idea. I’ve found a similar approach, The 60 Minute Rule, works for me. I set aside 60 minutes to do a task, with the attitude of “what gets done gets done” and usually find that once I get into the task (and find my Flow! yay!) I can work on it for hours.

Not only is this a great idea for shifting through inertia or fear (in a light and playful way), but it’s also a great example of how to write a smart blog comment. (I love reading comments where the person is actually sharing something new, adding to the conversation.)

So 3 Sparkly Brilliant! Stars to Page and her father!

Brilliant! idea to shift through inertia and fear

Brilliant! way to comment on blogs

Brilliant! legacy to leave your daughter

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