The Five Minute Rule
How a shift on my mindset enhanced my productivity
Self-disciplined is a space in where I share my philosophy on how to attain discipline, gain confidence and efficiency and get your time back to do the things you love doing.
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Hello there!
Thanks for taking the time to read my content. Honestly, this message applies to me too because, well, I don’t always follow my own advice. Something I need to get better at 😅.
I’ve been at this for about a month now, and it’s been pretty awesome to get my thoughts down on “digital paper.” Let’s be real—discipline is hard, especially on those days when it feels like getting out of bed is a challenge in itself.
But writing is slowly becoming a habit again. It’s starting to feel easier to organize my thoughts, and I’ve set up a basic system that helps me stay on track. Now, no matter how I’m feeling, I can share value with you, even on low-energy days.
The Five-Minute Rule
Part of what’s been helping is a shift in my mindset. It’s called the five-minute rule. Writing used to feel like a hassle because my mind was just chaos—too many thoughts bouncing around, and I didn’t know where to start. Now, whenever an idea pops up, I apply the five-minute rule and create a draft with bullet points on what I would like to talk about and how the text should be roughly structured. It doesn’t fail. Then, another day, I come back to them and fill in the gaps when I have more time to do it.
I bet you’re wondering, what in the world is the five-minute rule? Well, that’s why we’re here today. Let me explain.
The five-minute rule is simple: when I need to get something done, I ask myself, Will this take less than five minutes? If the answer is yes, I just do it. No excuses. No overthinking.
If the task seems like it’ll take longer, I try to break it down into chunks that fit within five minutes so I can make progress without getting stuck. But I don’t spend forever figuring that out—overthinking defeats the purpose.
The goal? To build the habit of getting things done and leaning into action.
Where This Came From
I honestly think my time at Amazon planted the seed for this mindset. One of their Leadership Principles is Bias for Action, which, in Amazon's words, is:
"Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking."
Translation? If the risks are worth it, then just do it.
But here’s the catch: it’s easy to fall into a trap we call snacking in software engineering.
Snacking vs. Impactful Work
Snacking is all about doing quick, easy tasks instead of tackling bigger, more complex ones. These smaller tasks don’t take a lot of time or focus, but they still contribute to the end goal. The problem? Too much snacking can steer you off course from the stuff that really matters.
It’s like productive procrastination. You’re working, sure, but on the wrong things. Instead of focusing on the tasks that create real impact, you find yourself reorganizing your inbox or tweaking the margins of your presentation.
For example, let’s say you’re working from home. Instead of focusing on your big project, you decide to clean the kitchen. Sure, the kitchen gets clean, but that wasn’t the priority and you might justify it by saying, At least I’m doing something productive and not scrolling on TikTok, right?
Wrong. Focus matters.
What You Can Do
One way to avoid this trap? Schedule coffee breaks. Maybe 15 minutes every couple of hours. And during those breaks, if there’s a task that’ll take less than five minutes, go for it. That’s when snacking makes sense.
The key is moderation. Have some self-control. Next time you feel tempted to take a break from work to, say, clean the bathroom, think twice!
Takeaways
In summary, focus on what you can control. Use your five-minute windows wisely, but don’t let them distract you from the big picture.
Stay disciplined. And next time you catch yourself drifting, remember: you’re in control of your actions, and the rest? Well, let that go.
Have an amazing week!