The Five Hour Rule – Learning One Hour At A Time

Ditch the workload for the ‘Five Hour Rule’ and instead find innovative, alternate ways to enrich your mind and learn something new in just one hour per day.

Ioana Davies (Drutu)/Shutterstock.comAre you frantically working to the last minute of every day?  Do you measure your daily achievements on how much of your work-load you get through?

As your procurement career progresses do you feel your responsibilities mounting and any personal development goals being sidelined?

If the answer to any of those questions if yes then Procurious is here to tell you that you’re doing it wrong. It’s time to adopt the ‘Five Hour Rule’.

What Is The Five Hour Rule?

The Five Hour Rule is a widely adopted practise which involves participants dedicating one hour of the working day to doing something entirely non-work-load-related.

Notable entrepreneurs, artists, business leaders, politicians, and celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, have endorsed the strategy. They believe that devoting just one hour of purposeful distraction to their day, each weekday, can pay huge dividends to their intelligence and business success.

Putting aside your daily routine can be a valuable technique for expanding your mind.

Let’s take a look at Benjamin Franklin. An apprentice from the age of 10, Franklin didn’t seem to be a gifted academic. However, he’s now one of the most recognisable names in history, famous for his inventions, writing, and entrepreneurial projects.

Franklin adopted the art of constant learning throughout his adult life. He took at least one hour out of his busy schedule every weekday to learn a new skill, read, write, set goals or experiment.

Constant learning is the key to success.

Top Tips for Sticking With It

• Set aside the time. The same time each day can be a good approach.

• Plan out the learning. Set some goals for what you want to learn, rather than just goals for what you want to accomplish.

• Solve problems as they arise. Don’t sweep issues under the carpet that are hard to solve. Set aside time to address them before they grow into big problems.

• Implement your learnings. Picked up something new? Implement it straight away.

How Should I Spend My Golden Hour?

This is one of those rare times when there is no right or wrong answer – so embrace it! Think of something you’ve always wanted to do, a topic you’re curious about or somewhere you’d like to go.

The more obscure the better. You’ll return to your desk with a fresher perspective and your mind enhanced with the new things you’ve learnt.

If you’re still lacking inspiration we’ve come up with a few ideas.

Do Something Active

Sign up to a gym class, go for a run, or walk to a park. If solitary exercise doesn’t appeal, join a sports club. Switching your mind off for an hour from your current workload gives you the chance to revisit it with a new perspective.

Learn Something New

Try learning something new and totally unrelated to work. Read a book: an autobiography of someone you admire; 100 pages of that novel you keep meaning to finish; a political magazine; a non-fiction history book.

Challenge yourself to memorise every state in the USA, and when you’ve done that, every country in the world. Listen to a podcast about a topic which interests you, watch a documentary. Take an online language course or have a piano lesson.

Take Up a Hobby

Why not start writing a blog or a book? Buy an art tutorial book and learn to paint from scratch. Do a floristry class or a photography course. Start cooking or baking.

Volunteer to teach disadvantaged students, join a charity and start doing activist work. Find a debating society and argue with others over things you care about.

Visit Somewhere Different

Go somewhere close to your workplace that you’ve been meaning to go, a coffee shop, a restaurant a gallery, a museum, a shop-  explore the area.

Use the time to think about something – anything other than work. Don’t force yourself to focus on your immediate goals or to- do list. It’s not productive.

The Eureka Moment

Is all of this sounding a little too romanticised and self indulgent?  The truth is, you never know when and where you might have that life-changing “Eureka moment”.

Slogging away, hunched over your computer screen isn’t necessarily conducive to coming up with a career-changing, innovative idea.

Author of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, Elizabeth Gilbert, was struggling with a failed draft of her memoir, so took up gardening to clear her head.

There, pulling up tomato vines, she suddenly realised how to fix her book. She washed her hands, returned to her desk, and within three months, she had completed the final version of her book, Committed. It subsequently spent over a year at the top of the New York Times’ non-fiction best sellers list.

Pick something that interests, excites or motivates you and immerse yourself in it.

You could also adopt the five hour rule to help with your professional development. As part of your hour, take part in the Procuruous Career Boot Camp.

You’ll spend your time listening to podcasts from our expert coaches, reading articles from global thought leaders, and join in on discussions with over 17,000 fellow procurement and supply chain professionals.

You never know where it might lead you!

The Procurious Career Boot Camp will increase your stamina, get you in the best career shape of your life and help you to punch above your weight.

It’s not too late to sign up. Enlist here and get access to our 15 free podcasts from some of the best career coaches around. Don’t miss out – your career will thank you for it!