The 5 Minute Rule

You see them whenever you go to the book store... business/lifestyle philosophy books. But can you really trust your business strategies and life philosophies to a flavour-of-the-moment book? What if they are in direct conflict with each other, such as In Praise of Slow (which speaks out against the dangers of an increasingly fast-paced world) and Blink (which teaches you how to make split second decisions and live in the moment). It's a wild wild world of opinions from pseudo-experts who wield metaphors as if they were sledgehammers.

I would suggest that people read The Art of War instead. It's a time-proven classic. It requires a bit of thought, but it's not supposed to hit you over the head like those other books. You're supposed to think about it and absorb it slowly. It's one of the original business/lifestyle philosophy books out there.

Now if I were to pen a business/lifestyle philosophy book, I would call it The 5 Minute Rule. This is not to be confused with the 5 second rule, which is something entirely different. The 5 minute rule philosophy is basically to do things before everyone else does or after everyone else does. Basically beat the rush or avoid the rush. Now you don't have to do it by very much... 5 minutes is enough to make a difference.

The 5 minute rule can best be seen during lunch time. If you arrive to a restaurant 5 minutes before everyone else, you will quickly get a table and your food orders. Those that come 5 minutes later may have to spend 15 minutes in line to get a seat. The same applies if you do banking during lunch. Being early by 5 minutes can save you 15 minutes to an hour. That extra time can be used for something else. It's simple advice, but honestly, the 5 minute rule will save you a crap load of time.