The Rule of 5

The rule of 5 is a powerful rule that can help you get ahead every single day. It simply states that you take your top goal and then do five things every single day that will move you towards that goal.

The reason the rule of five is so powerful is because you are taking small steps every single day towards what could be a large goal.

If you are in sales it could be 5 telephone calls to new leads per day. If you are a writer, it could be writing five new pages per day in a book you were working on. If you are trying to get in shape it could be doing 5 pushups per day.

The Compound Effect

The point of the rule of five is to create action no matter how small it is. This then leads to the compound effect. The compound effect is when you begin with one action and it leads to another action which leads to another action. Once you’ve done this several times in a row your actions compound upon themselves and the result that you get is much bigger than the steps that you’ve taken towards them.

The beauty of the rule of five but it has two main yet simple results every single time. Number one you don’t require any willpower to take 5 new steps if they are small enough. To use the exercise example, you could get up in the morning and the moment you get out of bed you do 5 pushups every single morning. That’s it. No willpower no overthinking.

Number 2 is the results you get from the rule of five. To use the example of a writer, if you are writing a 200-page book and you write 5 pages a day, in less than two months your book will be written. Contrast that with sitting down and trying to write a 200-page book with no plan. The goal is much more daunting when looked at that way.

The Simplicity of the Rule

Your goal with the rule of five is simply to find a goal that you really want to pursue or achieve. Then write down five things that will get you closer to that goal, preferably small actions and then do them. Once you are done doing the five steps you will have a huge sense of accomplishment no matter how small or how large the steps were. Every day the action of doing 5 things toward your goal will become easier as you do it not just because you will have laid out the five things and begun to do them but also because of the results you will have gotten over time.

So, pick your goal, find 5 steps toward it and start with number 1!