Five minutes to breakthrough productivity

| October 6, 2015

Five minutes to breakthrough productivity

What if I told you there is one simple thing you can do for your business that would increase productivity, aid decision making, enhance creativity and resourcefulness, and significantly improve memory?

What if I told you it was absolutely free, and you could get it in just five minutes?

Large companies such as Google are implementing this innovative brain-altering technique with their employees, and it’s resulting in measurable improvements. It’s the nap. A thirty minute power snooze after lunch.

And that’s great for the guys at the big biz end of town, but for many small businesses – especially solopreneurs – a 30 minute nap is impossible in the working day.

But here’s the good news – you can get many of the same benefits to productivity and creativity in just five minutes. This seems crazy, I know. It goes against every one of the ‘hard work’ paradigms we all grew up with. But it works.

For five minutes, between midday and 2pm, you simply do nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

About now, all your work ethics, your training and habits are probably up in arms. But that’s my busiest time of the day! My business needs me to be available! Five minutes of NOTHING??

Consider this. I’m willing to bet you already experience being unavailable to your clients, customers and staff while you’re on a call, in a meeting, or out of mobile signal range. Perhaps you even have staff who routinely handle incoming enquiries when you take a bathroom break or duck out for coffee.

So you already know how to be unavailable for five minutes. The only difference is that here, you’re doing it purely for YOU. And that’s what feels so darn wrong.

But given the benefits, maybe it’s time to allow for the possibility. Five minutes of absolutely nothing, in the middle of the day.

Here’s how it works:

1. Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted (back room, your car, local park, your office)

2. Get comfy (sitting is good, lying is better)

3. Set your smartphone alarm for five minutes (a sound that’s soft, not startling)

4. Close your eyes

5. Let your breathing slow down and simply become aware of your body.

That’s it.

No music, no TV, no reading, no listening to podcasts, no planning, no mentally rehearsing tomorrow’s presentation. If thoughts or ideas come up, notice they’re there and let them go. You’ll come back to them later. It’s only five minutes, you’re not going to forget them.

You can have a notebook handy for jotting down any great ideas AFTER the five minutes is up. But don’t worry if they don’t – the purpose of this technique is to reset your brain and your physiology.

It works. You can prove it by trying it for two weeks. That’s a total of fifty minutes, in exchange for the most amazing set of neurological and physiological benefits. Like any new habit, it will feel weird at first. But really, what have you got to lose?