So there you are sitting on the sofa on a Sunday evening watching your favourite TV programme when you realise the dishwasher machine isn’t working and it’s your turn to do the washing up. How do you feel? Do you suddenly leap out of your chair in a motivated fashion or are you more likely to be thinking, “I wonder if I can do the deed tomorrow after breakfast”. For many it is the latter type of conversation that permeates their mind and curious how those same people have no tool or technique that they can use in order to make a big difference on their thinking process.
Enter the 4-minute rule.
The way the 4-minute rule works is that you promise yourself to do the task you least wish to do with as much energy and forced vigour as possible with the understanding that in minute 5 if you still hate what you’re doing you can stop and go back to whatever you prefer to be doing. You should try this, it really works!
What actually happens is that if you do anything with energy and enthusiasm for at least 4 minutes, enough endorphins will be released into your system that makes you feel good and that good feeling gets associated with what you are then doing at the time. Whenever I’ve used this technique, I found that when my alarm signal goes off at 4 minutes I am smiling to myself thinking “Here we go again. I was sure I’d be able to resume my couch potato pose again yet there’s no way I want to stop what I’ve really got stuck into!”
So once again here’s the idea: it’s called the 4-minute rule and you do something that you least want to do for 4 minutes with energy and enthusiasm knowing that after the 4 minutes if you still hate it you can go back to what you were doing before. I think you will find that on most occasions you will be pleasantly surprised at how self-motivated you have become around that dreaded task.
Tags: 4 minute rule, achievement, achieving success, energy, enthusiasm, motivation, personal development, personal effectiveness, personal skills, self motivation, taking action, thinking process, time management, transformation
