The Rule of 5
What is the Rule of 5?
Recently I’ve been reminded several times of Principle 23 in Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles. Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul, were overwhelmed by the many different ways they could market their new book, so they developed the Rule of 5 which is simply “every day, we do five specific things that will move our goal toward completion.” By breaking the overwhelming task of creating a bestseller down into 5 things to do per day, they simplified their goal and, after a couple years, achieved bestseller status!
OK…I get it!
Sometimes it takes a while. I read Success Principles several years ago. John Maxwell retells the Canfield story in his new book, Put Your Dream to the Test which I just read a couple weeks ago. This morning when I looked through my email and saw Jessica Swanson, “The Shoestring Marketer”, talking about the Power of 5, I decided it was time to apply this little tool to my own goals.
Major Definite Purpose
My biggest goal at this stage in my life is financial independence. Because there are an overwhelming number of ways one could achieve financial independence, this goal is a perfect candidate for the Rule of 5. Beginning today, I will practice the Rule of 5.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:54 am
You inspire me! Great blog!
April 30th, 2009 at 3:22 am
So how do you define financial independence?
April 30th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Thanks Bec! You know you’re taking smaller steps toward larger goals everyday…painting two shutters a day gets your goal of “new” shutters accomplished in less than a month.
–Nathan
April 30th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Paul, great question…I think I’ll do a blog posting with a more expanded answer. Here’s my quick thought. For me financial independence will be when I have enough money coming in each month, independent of my day job, to cover my desired lifestyle. Sources might be dividends from stocks, rental income from real estate, or information marketing online.
–Nathan
May 14th, 2009 at 1:11 am
great blog as usual. So what are your 5 steps for a given day?
May 17th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Good question, John. My 5 steps to financial independence look like this…
1. Write 200 words for upcoming blog post.
2. Brainstorm on a new idea for my day job company.
3. Read and apply one chapter from a time management book.
4. Review stock portfolio for appropriateness in current market.
5. Sketch out information marketing idea.
The specifics change from day to day, but those seem to be the core directions I’m headed right now to make money.
–Nathan
May 21st, 2009 at 10:07 am
[...] 21, 2009 by Nathan Martin My friend Paul recently asked me to define Financial Independence. I gave Paul my short version and promised to expand in an upcoming blog post. Here we [...]
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:55 pm
[...] Brian Tracy sent the following out as his Quote of the Day email yesterday… “Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.” –Robert Orben The email came at a perfect time for me. This week has been extremely unproductive. I needed a reminder to step back and assess what I’m doing with my time. Jumping from one fire to the next doesn’t get me closer to my goals. Sometimes those fires need to be put out, sometimes not. The thing to remember is to set aside at least a little time to focus on longer-term goals and keep momentum toward those goals. Back to the Rule of Five. [...]