The Things We Don't Want To Do (The 10 Minute Rule)

Recently, I was rereading a chapter in John Medina's book Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, and was reminded of the "10 minute rule". Given "medium interest", the brain can only focus attention on a thing for about 10 minutes. The 10-minute rule can be a wonderful revelation and programming tool to help us get done the things we don't want to do...

Mornings tend to be hurried for me. I wake up, usually around 5:30, and shower, eat, brush my teeth, do a little work, and then rush out the door. When I'm trying to be a good family man, I'll do dishes, if I have time, for 10 minutes - no more, no less. I find that, with focus, 10 minutes is enough time to get a sinkful of dishes cleaned and put into the dishwasher or cabinets.

Finding training time can be tough sometimes, but finding ten minutes is NOT. What can you do in 10 minutes? How about a 10 minute EDT session? Yes, I know that "PR Zones" are supposed to be 15 minutes, but 10 minutes, or even 5 is plenty of time to get in some meaningful training time. Is it ideal? Probably not, but most training is far from ideal and can be classified in one of two categories; on track, or not on track - putting in some quality work qualifies as "on track". As I mentioned in A Quick & (Relatively) Painless Way To Add Training Volume, 5-minutes of work is infinitely better than getting dumped, as accessory work often is (for me).