The 5 Minute Rule is a take on Mel Robins "5 Second Rule" in which she advises to count down from five, when you confronted with a difficult situation. Once the count reaches zero, you should act in order to overcome the situation.

In my version, the 5 Minute Rule is a tool for procrastinators in order to get the machine rolling. You simply tell yourself you would do a certain task for only 5 Minutes and then are allowed to stop. However, once you already sat down and tried to focus, why not continue? So basically the 5 Minute Rule is a trick we play on ourselves to get started. This is a technique that helped me a lot in the past and still does. If you have difficulties to sit down and work, this might be of use for you. Furthermore, I suggest you try out Mel Robbins 5 Second Rule and maybe also read her book to fully understand the potential of this system.

If this topic interests you, I suggest you check out my video The Study Technique That Got Me Into Medical School