When I was young my mother used to wake me up 5 minutes earlier than I had told her to and made me study any of my school books before getting ready to go to school. I often used to ask her – “how would studying this for just 5 minutes make any difference?” And she would say – “You will know that by the end of the year.” It took me a few years to realize how much my good grades were determined by those 5 minutes of study time daily.

We all know the power of compound interest when it comes to money. This article will focus on how we all can use the same principle of compound interest in other areas of our life to get enormous gains. Only if we realize, that is.

Doing something small, which might look very trivial and futile, and doing it regularly without fail – no matter what it is, will take your skills in that area to a totally different level over time. This habit has stayed with me ever since my childhood, and I have used to learn several new skills. Below are a few examples we can make our lives better in just 5 minutes –

1. Just spend 5 minutes reading a book every day, and by the end of the year, you will have finished many books and you will have many new skills and learnings. I still carry this habit which my mother imbibed in me so many years ago.
2. Spend 5 minutes exercising every day, and you will be amazed at how much strength and energy you have after a few months.
3. Getting up Early – If you get up at 8 am and want to move to a 5 am routine, start with just a 5-minute early start. Get up at 7:55 am for a week, and then get up at 7:50 am the next week. In around 9 months, you will be waking up at 5 am without even noticing it.
4. Write – If you always want to write something but never had the time to do so, just write the topic and title of what you want to write about today. Tomorrow, just write a few bullet points. Over the next few days – take each point and expand it to a paragraph. Within a week, you will have a full-page post ready.
5. Photography – I was always interested in making better photos and photography, but never used to get the time to do so. After 4 years of buying my DSLR, I finally decided to give 5 minutes to photography daily – whether it is shooting any subject I could find at my home or outside, or reading an article or watching a video about it. Within a couple of years, my photography skills had improved so much that I now take it very seriously and might even do it professionally at some point in the future.

So think about the things which are not working in your life and career right now or stuff for which you don’t have time. Now, start doing just 5 minutes of it daily, and stick to it.

Things to Take Care

While it is easy to do something for just 5 minutes a day, it is also very easy to forget doing your 5-minute task. There are a few things we can do to keep at this habit –
1. Set a reminder in your phone. Once the alarm goes off, make it a priority to do your 5-minute task.
2. Watch yourself get better in that skill over time. Celebrate for 5 minutes every now and then, for sticking to the habit and for getting better.