What is the 20-Minute Rule?
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I am a firm believer in the 20-Minute Rule for professional development. This is where I spend at least 20 minutes a day doing something that adds value to my professional life. In my case, that means studying about topics, such as, learning, writing, teaching, speaking or training methodologies. This may be in the form of reading or even watching a video, but doing something. You would be amazed at what you can learn in only 20 minutes a day.
Let's take a look at what others think about the 20-minute rule and how they apply it. |
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Anyone can use the '20-Minute Rule' I learned from 5 years of studying rich people
As Steve Jobs said in the 2005 Stanford commencement address: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” In other words, don’t put your ladder on someone else’s wall. Pursue your own dreams. Not those of your parents, teachers, or some other significant influence in your life.
In order to make that ideal life a reality, you need to follow a process:
1. Define each specific dream that is part of your collage of your ideal life.
2. Build individual goals around each dream. In order to realize a given dream, it may, for example, require that you accomplish numerous goals.
3. Forge daily habits (I call them "goal habits") that, when accomplished each day, bring you closer to achieving each individual goal.
As I learned from my five-year Rich Habits Study of people at both ends of the income spectrum, good habits are like snowflakes on the mountainside. You hardly notice the cumulative positive effects these habits have on your life on a daily basis, but over time, they create an avalanche of success.
When success hits, it appears to the untrained observer that the person became an overnight success. Of course, what the untrained observer does not realize is the fact that success was the byproduct of years and years of doing certain things every day.
Building new daily habits isn’t difficult if you know what to do. It simply takes time and persistence. Consistency is the key. There is an easy trick that you can use in order to forge new goal habits to help you accomplish the goals behind the dreams that make up your ideal life: It’s called the 20 Minute Rule. The 20 Minute Rule is a simple three-step process.
Here’s how it works:
1. Define any new goal habit you wish to adopt.
2. Devote 20 minutes a day to that new goal habit.
3. Repeat that daily goal habit for a minimum of 30 days.
Just 20 minutes out of a typical day could make a difference. The new goal habit could be:
• 20 minutes a day of reading to expand your knowledge in a particular area that you need to become more proficient in, in order accomplish an individual goal (i.e. getting some license or certification).
• 20 minutes a day of networking to develop relationships with other successful individuals doing what you want to do. These relationships will open the door to opportunities that will help you accomplish your goals and realize your dreams.
• 20 minutes of listening to a podcast related to one or more of your goals to gather knowledge and insight you didn’t have before.
• 20 minutes of watching a TED talk in an area you need to become more knowledgeable in, in order for you to realize your individual goals.
• 20 minutes of developing a side business you hope to one day devote yourself to full-time.
In 30 days, your brain cells start talking to one another, forming a synapse. Once the synapse is formed, the tracks are laid for habit formation to occur. Over time, it becomes easier and easier to engage in the habit. At some point, between 66 and 256 days, according to the latest science on habits change, the habit becomes an automatic, unconscious behavior.
The brain loves habits. Habits conserve brain fuel and save the brain from work. But it does take repetition and time in order to get brain cells talking to each other. Thirty days gets the conversation going inside the brain.
Once the new goal habit sticks, then you can move on to the next new goal habit, following the same three-step process. In the course of a year, it is possible to add three or more new goal habits using this three-step process. In a few years you will have created dozens of new habits and your life will begin to improve as you accomplish one goal after another, and realize one dream after another.
In order to make that ideal life a reality, you need to follow a process:
1. Define each specific dream that is part of your collage of your ideal life.
2. Build individual goals around each dream. In order to realize a given dream, it may, for example, require that you accomplish numerous goals.
3. Forge daily habits (I call them "goal habits") that, when accomplished each day, bring you closer to achieving each individual goal.
As I learned from my five-year Rich Habits Study of people at both ends of the income spectrum, good habits are like snowflakes on the mountainside. You hardly notice the cumulative positive effects these habits have on your life on a daily basis, but over time, they create an avalanche of success.
When success hits, it appears to the untrained observer that the person became an overnight success. Of course, what the untrained observer does not realize is the fact that success was the byproduct of years and years of doing certain things every day.
Building new daily habits isn’t difficult if you know what to do. It simply takes time and persistence. Consistency is the key. There is an easy trick that you can use in order to forge new goal habits to help you accomplish the goals behind the dreams that make up your ideal life: It’s called the 20 Minute Rule. The 20 Minute Rule is a simple three-step process.
Here’s how it works:
1. Define any new goal habit you wish to adopt.
2. Devote 20 minutes a day to that new goal habit.
3. Repeat that daily goal habit for a minimum of 30 days.
Just 20 minutes out of a typical day could make a difference. The new goal habit could be:
• 20 minutes a day of reading to expand your knowledge in a particular area that you need to become more proficient in, in order accomplish an individual goal (i.e. getting some license or certification).
• 20 minutes a day of networking to develop relationships with other successful individuals doing what you want to do. These relationships will open the door to opportunities that will help you accomplish your goals and realize your dreams.
• 20 minutes of listening to a podcast related to one or more of your goals to gather knowledge and insight you didn’t have before.
• 20 minutes of watching a TED talk in an area you need to become more knowledgeable in, in order for you to realize your individual goals.
• 20 minutes of developing a side business you hope to one day devote yourself to full-time.
In 30 days, your brain cells start talking to one another, forming a synapse. Once the synapse is formed, the tracks are laid for habit formation to occur. Over time, it becomes easier and easier to engage in the habit. At some point, between 66 and 256 days, according to the latest science on habits change, the habit becomes an automatic, unconscious behavior.
The brain loves habits. Habits conserve brain fuel and save the brain from work. But it does take repetition and time in order to get brain cells talking to each other. Thirty days gets the conversation going inside the brain.
Once the new goal habit sticks, then you can move on to the next new goal habit, following the same three-step process. In the course of a year, it is possible to add three or more new goal habits using this three-step process. In a few years you will have created dozens of new habits and your life will begin to improve as you accomplish one goal after another, and realize one dream after another.
Cite
Corley, Thomas C. “Anyone can use the '20-Minute Rule' I learned from 5 years of studying rich people” INSIDER. 3 Feb 2016. <https://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-minute-rule-of-success-2016-2> Accessed 07 May 2021.
Corley, Thomas C. “Anyone can use the '20-Minute Rule' I learned from 5 years of studying rich people” INSIDER. 3 Feb 2016. <https://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-minute-rule-of-success-2016-2> Accessed 07 May 2021.
20 MINUTE RULE
As one has said: ‘90% of the effort is getting started.’ Sometimes we are very ‘creative’ in procrastinating. One of the best ways to overcome this is the 20-Minute-Rule.
The mind likes to be clear.
To have clear targets, a very specific and measurable goal.
Set your timer for 20 minutes and promise yourself a short break afterwards.
You will be surprised how quickly 20 minutes pass.
And here is an important point: When the 20 minutes are over, you HAVE to stick to your promise and GIVE yourself a short (2 – 5 minutes) break.
If not the whole exercise is void. Your brain (metaphorically speaking) says: You b*******, you promised me a break. So that I could re-charge. Now you are not keeping your promise. You know what: I will make you tired.”
And you WILL get tired very quickly.
So here is what you do: when the alarm goes off, you finish the sentence (should you be writing or reading), however you DON’T finish the paragraph. I promise you, you will just pick up where you left off.
Some ideas for the break: a) Lean back, close your eyes, and relax (and day-dream); b) go to the toilet (just wash your hands); c) boil the kettle for a cup of tea/coffee and bring it back to your desk, remember you only have 2 – 5 minutes; d) revise the goals for the day; e) revise the spiritual inspiration for the day. Be inventive.
But do stick to the break.
You will also be surprised about the surge of energy you will have once you stick to the pattern: 20 minutes of study and a few minutes break. You won’t get tired for a long time, and it is very rewarding when the NEXT 20 minutes are over.
What’s the alternative?
You have a long study period, say of 90 minutes. What happens then? You are very, very tired. And then you HAVE to take a longish break. You don’t gain anything by cutting out the breaks.
Also, as a added bonus of the 20 minute rule: If you have a subject that you somewhat don’t like, your focus has now shifted. Away from the subject, and towards the timer. Your goal is not anymore to study the dreaded subject, your goal is now to fulfill the 20 minutes. And that is a lot easier.
Give it a go. It is a powerful tool indeed.
The mind likes to be clear.
To have clear targets, a very specific and measurable goal.
Set your timer for 20 minutes and promise yourself a short break afterwards.
You will be surprised how quickly 20 minutes pass.
And here is an important point: When the 20 minutes are over, you HAVE to stick to your promise and GIVE yourself a short (2 – 5 minutes) break.
If not the whole exercise is void. Your brain (metaphorically speaking) says: You b*******, you promised me a break. So that I could re-charge. Now you are not keeping your promise. You know what: I will make you tired.”
And you WILL get tired very quickly.
So here is what you do: when the alarm goes off, you finish the sentence (should you be writing or reading), however you DON’T finish the paragraph. I promise you, you will just pick up where you left off.
Some ideas for the break: a) Lean back, close your eyes, and relax (and day-dream); b) go to the toilet (just wash your hands); c) boil the kettle for a cup of tea/coffee and bring it back to your desk, remember you only have 2 – 5 minutes; d) revise the goals for the day; e) revise the spiritual inspiration for the day. Be inventive.
But do stick to the break.
You will also be surprised about the surge of energy you will have once you stick to the pattern: 20 minutes of study and a few minutes break. You won’t get tired for a long time, and it is very rewarding when the NEXT 20 minutes are over.
What’s the alternative?
You have a long study period, say of 90 minutes. What happens then? You are very, very tired. And then you HAVE to take a longish break. You don’t gain anything by cutting out the breaks.
Also, as a added bonus of the 20 minute rule: If you have a subject that you somewhat don’t like, your focus has now shifted. Away from the subject, and towards the timer. Your goal is not anymore to study the dreaded subject, your goal is now to fulfill the 20 minutes. And that is a lot easier.
Give it a go. It is a powerful tool indeed.
Cite
Creative Remembering Techniques. “20 Minute Rule” Creative Remembering Techniques. 2012. <http://www.creative-remembering-techniques.com/ss0401.html> Accessed 07 May 2021.
Creative Remembering Techniques. “20 Minute Rule” Creative Remembering Techniques. 2012. <http://www.creative-remembering-techniques.com/ss0401.html> Accessed 07 May 2021.
The 20-Minute Rule to Accomplish Any Task
You can do anything for 20 minutes.
Some days, it doesn’t matter how much coffee we’ve had.
It doesn’t matter that we got 8 hours of sleep, or that we’re wearing our favorite cotton pants. It doesn’t matter that we’ve done everything to set ourselves up for a productive day: we just can’t seem to muster the energy to do the tasks we know we should.
I often find myself procrastinating things that seem relatively simple! Like doing the dishes, making the bed, or folding the laundry. I tell myself that these chores can be done at any time, so why now? Why not wait for later? But later never arrives and the dishes pile up, the laundry never gets hung, and my stress quietly rises.
Enter: the 20-minute rule.
The 20-minute rule is very simple. Next time you dread doing something, set a timer for 20 minutes, and start working on whatever it is you’ve been putting off. It doesn’t matter if you’re slow at first, the important thing is that you work on your task for just 20 minutes.
When the timer goes off, reset it and take a 20-minute break to focus on a different task or do something else you’re more interested in. When that timer goes off, reset it again and go back to work on your original chore.
After a few rotations of this, you’ll find you’ve built up momentum and can keep working on the task you so dreaded. In fact, you may discover that you’ve accomplished the darn thing completely!
The reality is, procrastination actually stems from fear and the anticipation of pain.
This is usually a fear of failure or of not meeting our own standards. Somehow, we manage to link a lot of pain to the action we know we should take. The anticipation of pain keeps us from acting, and we fail to even get started.
With seemingly simple things like laundry or dishes, my procrastination stems from a fear of not using my time more wisely to focus on “important” tasks. However, this fear is really baseless because I spend many hours of the day not focusing on “important” tasks anyway!
I’ve developed a strong sense of pain in relation to these chores, even though I usually end up feeling calmer and happier once I’ve accomplished them. Despite these good feelings, I still fear the pain I imagine I will have greater than the pleasure my brain tells me will occur.
Imagine that you have a big test coming up and you know you need to study. However, you struggle to sit down and open your books because your brain has linked a lot of pain to staying up late pouring over equations, and feeling like you’re not getting anywhere. If you were just able to change your attitude about studying, it would be much easier to accomplish. If you could somehow think about how fun it will be to show off everything you’ve learned, or how great it will feel to get a good grade, then you could condition yourself to enjoy the process instead.
The 20-minute rule is designed to help you begin working through the process of developing new emotions in connection to a task.
Because the thing is, the 20-minute rule is not actually meant to get the job done at all. It’s meant to help you get started.
The “getting it done” part will just be a happy accident if you use the 20-minute rule enough.
The 20-minute rule is designed to help you begin working through the process of developing new emotions in connection to a task.
What’s important is to demonstrate to your brain that you can work on something for 20 minutes without feeling the pain you were so fearfully anticipating. By showing yourself that everything will be fine if you just do the thing, you help start to assuage your own fears.
If you used the 20-minute rule to start studying for your test, after a few rotations of the timer you would discover that you are not encountering all the pain you thought you would. You may even start to enjoy it!
And if the twenty-minute rule doesn’t work for you? Try the 15-minute rule. Or the 10-minute rule. The 5-minute rule. Heck, I’ve even had to use the 30-second rule. That’s right. 30 seconds.
The great Tony Horton, fitness guru, and creator of the high-intensity workout program P90X, says during one of his video workouts:
Come on! You can do ANYTHING for 30 seconds!
And he’s absolutely right. You can do anything for 30 seconds. Even squats!
And I bet you can probably do anything for 20 minutes, too.
Start small. Prove to yourself that you will not experience a high amount of pain from doing the task you set out to do. Begin to rewrite the emotions you anticipate in relation to a certain task.
Eventually, just like me, you’ll find yourself eager to do the dishes and have a sparkling kitchen. Or fold the laundry and have neat clothes hung up in a line.
Whatever you fear, you don’t have to do it all at once.
Just set a timer, and get started.
It doesn’t matter that we got 8 hours of sleep, or that we’re wearing our favorite cotton pants. It doesn’t matter that we’ve done everything to set ourselves up for a productive day: we just can’t seem to muster the energy to do the tasks we know we should.
I often find myself procrastinating things that seem relatively simple! Like doing the dishes, making the bed, or folding the laundry. I tell myself that these chores can be done at any time, so why now? Why not wait for later? But later never arrives and the dishes pile up, the laundry never gets hung, and my stress quietly rises.
Enter: the 20-minute rule.
The 20-minute rule is very simple. Next time you dread doing something, set a timer for 20 minutes, and start working on whatever it is you’ve been putting off. It doesn’t matter if you’re slow at first, the important thing is that you work on your task for just 20 minutes.
When the timer goes off, reset it and take a 20-minute break to focus on a different task or do something else you’re more interested in. When that timer goes off, reset it again and go back to work on your original chore.
After a few rotations of this, you’ll find you’ve built up momentum and can keep working on the task you so dreaded. In fact, you may discover that you’ve accomplished the darn thing completely!
The reality is, procrastination actually stems from fear and the anticipation of pain.
This is usually a fear of failure or of not meeting our own standards. Somehow, we manage to link a lot of pain to the action we know we should take. The anticipation of pain keeps us from acting, and we fail to even get started.
With seemingly simple things like laundry or dishes, my procrastination stems from a fear of not using my time more wisely to focus on “important” tasks. However, this fear is really baseless because I spend many hours of the day not focusing on “important” tasks anyway!
I’ve developed a strong sense of pain in relation to these chores, even though I usually end up feeling calmer and happier once I’ve accomplished them. Despite these good feelings, I still fear the pain I imagine I will have greater than the pleasure my brain tells me will occur.
Imagine that you have a big test coming up and you know you need to study. However, you struggle to sit down and open your books because your brain has linked a lot of pain to staying up late pouring over equations, and feeling like you’re not getting anywhere. If you were just able to change your attitude about studying, it would be much easier to accomplish. If you could somehow think about how fun it will be to show off everything you’ve learned, or how great it will feel to get a good grade, then you could condition yourself to enjoy the process instead.
The 20-minute rule is designed to help you begin working through the process of developing new emotions in connection to a task.
Because the thing is, the 20-minute rule is not actually meant to get the job done at all. It’s meant to help you get started.
The “getting it done” part will just be a happy accident if you use the 20-minute rule enough.
The 20-minute rule is designed to help you begin working through the process of developing new emotions in connection to a task.
What’s important is to demonstrate to your brain that you can work on something for 20 minutes without feeling the pain you were so fearfully anticipating. By showing yourself that everything will be fine if you just do the thing, you help start to assuage your own fears.
If you used the 20-minute rule to start studying for your test, after a few rotations of the timer you would discover that you are not encountering all the pain you thought you would. You may even start to enjoy it!
And if the twenty-minute rule doesn’t work for you? Try the 15-minute rule. Or the 10-minute rule. The 5-minute rule. Heck, I’ve even had to use the 30-second rule. That’s right. 30 seconds.
The great Tony Horton, fitness guru, and creator of the high-intensity workout program P90X, says during one of his video workouts:
Come on! You can do ANYTHING for 30 seconds!
And he’s absolutely right. You can do anything for 30 seconds. Even squats!
And I bet you can probably do anything for 20 minutes, too.
Start small. Prove to yourself that you will not experience a high amount of pain from doing the task you set out to do. Begin to rewrite the emotions you anticipate in relation to a certain task.
Eventually, just like me, you’ll find yourself eager to do the dishes and have a sparkling kitchen. Or fold the laundry and have neat clothes hung up in a line.
Whatever you fear, you don’t have to do it all at once.
Just set a timer, and get started.
Cite
Claman, Grace. “The 20-Minute Rule to Accomplish Any Task” Medium.10 Jun 2020. <https://medium.com/the-epiphany/the-20-minute-rule-to-accomplish-any-task-8d6aa2663300#:~:text=The%2020%2Dminute%20rule%20is%20very%20simple.&text=When%20the%20timer%20goes%20off,work%20on%20your%20original%20chore.> Accessed 07 May 2021.
Claman, Grace. “The 20-Minute Rule to Accomplish Any Task” Medium.10 Jun 2020. <https://medium.com/the-epiphany/the-20-minute-rule-to-accomplish-any-task-8d6aa2663300#:~:text=The%2020%2Dminute%20rule%20is%20very%20simple.&text=When%20the%20timer%20goes%20off,work%20on%20your%20original%20chore.> Accessed 07 May 2021.
