If you are serious about personal development, the 5-hour rule might be for you. Personal growth doesn’t just happen because you want it to; it requires a serious investment of time and energy.
This approach is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but frankly, things have come a long way since the 1700s. So, what principles are still relevant and applicable, and what needs a bit of an update to bring it into the 21st century?
The key message of the 5-hour rule is that no matter how accomplished or knowledgeable you are, spending five hours every week deliberately learning has exponential benefits. Traditionally, this time is divided into three main activities:
- Reading: Spending time every day reading can gradually grow your knowledge. This often involves setting reading goals, such as a certain number of chapters per day or books per month.
- Reflecting: Information needs to be processed and analysed to be truly useful. The 5-hour rule encourages reflection not only on what you’ve learnt but also on events in your work and personal life.
- Experimenting: This could also be called implementation, but since it’s not going to go perfectly the first time every time, experimentation is a more accurate term. Part of the process is learning from your unsuccessful attempts.
Why does it work?
We work in tech, so we know that if you’re not making a constant effort to learn, you’ll get left behind as technology advances at breakneck speed. Beyond the obvious benefit of learning new skills and keeping your existing skills up-to-date, fans of the 5-hour rule claim a host of other advantages:
- You’ll learn faster: Like anything, you improve with practice. Constant learning will help you develop your learning skills, so over time, you’ll achieve more in the same five hours each week—and in other areas of your life too!
- You’ll discover things about yourself: Discovering new passions and hobbies is the obvious one. But you’ll also gain insights into how you approach problems, common stumbling blocks, and the learning styles that work best for you.
- You’ll improve your personal life: Being knowledgeable on a wide range of topics and possessing diverse skills can work wonders for your confidence and self-awareness!
Inclusive adaptations to 5-Hour Rule (that also brings it into the 21st Century!)
The structure of our lives and the tools we have available have come on a lot in the last 400 years. We also know a lot more about the variety of learning styles and the way that people's brains work. For example, for neurodivergent individuals, embracing the traditional 5-hour rule might not work, something effective might look a little different.
- Vary your information sources. Books aren’t for everyone. Plenty of neurodivergent people find reading unenjoyable, and it’s worth considering the environmental impact—over 32 million trees are felled by the publishing industry each year. Audiobooks and podcasts are the obvious alternatives. And did you know Duolingo is more than just a language app? The world’s largest language-learning app now offers free maths and music lessons too.
- Find ways to reflect. If you’re autistic or have ADHD, structured reflection might be more helpful than open-ended reflection. Have you heard of Milanote? This online tool and app allow you to record and organise your thoughts and ideas into intuitive, visually appealing boards. And it’s free! If you’re someone who reflects by offloading ideas and mapping them out visually, you’ll love it. On the other end of the reflection scale, Headspace is a great choice for self-reflection. Primarily a mindfulness and meditation app, Headspace offers helpful prompts for productive and insightful self-evaluation of your cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes.
- Stay consistent. Like most things, the 5-hour rule only works if you practice it consistently over a long period. This means having self-discipline and staying organised. Motion, an AI daily planner, was developed to help fit more into less time, by planning workloads efficiently and intuitively. Motion claims to improve productivity by 137% by dynamically prioritising and scheduling your workload. It takes all your projects and tasks into account and creates a dynamic schedule. Tell it you’d like to find five hours for learning each week, and it will help you find those hours.
Personal growth is not one-size-fits-all
Reading a set number of books is not going to magically catapult you to personal and professional heights. The key message to take home from the 5-hour rule is consistency and a willingness learn is what pays off. The first part of this journey should be exploring what you enjoy, what you'll be able to stick to, and what works best for you.