Do you enjoy staring at that one task you keep putting off…every single day?
I want to introduce you to a technique that is giving me productivity super powers. I call it the Five Minute Shot.
First, let’s get past all of the things the Five Minute Shot is NOT…
- It doesn’t involve any type of hyperdermic needles or injecting yourself for any length of time
- It doesn’t involve drinking (don’t unsubscribe yet)
- It doesn’t require any type of athletic ability or hand/eye coordination
The Five Minute Shot is a motivation trick that works for most anything that a) is going to take longer than five minutes, and b) we keep putting it off.
It’s simple really – Give that thing a shot for five minutes.
Try it. Right now. Conduct the following experiment:
1. Find something you keep putting off. It could be exercise, cleaning, writing, whatever. It’s that one thing that has been on your to-do list for the last five weeks.
2. Set a timer for five minutes.
3. Recognize every feeling that’s telling you not to do this thing right now.
4. Ignore those feelings, start the timer, and get going on the task.
5. When the timer goes off, compare your feelings now with your feelings from five minutes ago.
Once we start doing the thing that needs to be done something incredible happens. Over the course of those five minutes your feelings begin to change. In fact, I find that my feelings (which I’ve chosen to ignore) change from not wanting to to do something to not wanting to stop doing something. Five minutes of doing will change your feelings.
You can do almost anything if you know you’re only going to do it for five minutes. What you’ll discover is that the timer becomes a distraction because you’re in the middle of accomplishing something and you don’t want to stop.
That’s because motivation doesn’t come from a feeling, it comes from making progress toward your goals.
Let me know how it goes.
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