The Rule of 5 Productivity Hack

If you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for ways to be more productive. After all, the older we get the more we realize that time is precious – we can’t buy more of it and the sands of the hourglass never stop draining – so if there’s a trick that can help me better use my time I want to know about it. If you’re reading this, I’m guessing YOU do too.

To be more productive, you could try this technique…

Jim Carrey’s Productivity Hack?

Heck, I’d love to supercharge my productivity like Jim is doing in the vid, however for most of us Average Joe’s that little trick may not work. Yet have no fear, because, as always That Helpful Dad is here to help you by sharing a life lesson that anyone CAN use (yes that means YOU) to improve their productivity and reach their goals faster.

It’s called The Rule of 5

And it starts with a story…

The story behind the success of Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. Do those names ring a bell to you? This pair is the powerhouse behind the uber popular self-help series known as Chicken Soup for the Soul. These books are so legendary that there are now over 250 titles in the series and Mark and Jack have had their books translated into 40+ languages and sold more than 500 million copies worldwide.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Early on, Mark and Jack said they couldn’t get anyone to publish their books, much less buy them.

Until they got some advice from an old teacher who told them…

“If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp ax, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it WILL come down.”

They did it – oops!

Recognizing the value of good advice, the story goes that Mark and Jack developed The Rule of 5.


Here’s how the Rule of 5 works…

Every day, do 5 specific things that will move you closer to your goal.

Wait, that’s it?

Yup, it’s not rocket science – but then again, most true wisdom isn’t hard to understand – the real trick is to actually DO it – day in and day out.

The keys to using this trick successfully are as follows:

  1. Be SPECIFIC with your activities each day. Write them down and know exactly what you plan to do.
  2. Make sure your activities are directly related to furthering your main goal – don’t mistake busy work for productivity. If the task isn’t really aligned with your goal, don’t do it.
  3. Be persistent – use the Rule of 5 every day until you reach your goal.

The right actions, done consistently over time, lead to results.

It’s that Journey of 1000 miles and the single steps you take along the way toward the goal – shockingly simple but incredibly effective.

So what happened with Mark and Jack?

They applied this wisdom as follows: every day they did 5 specific things that they believed would move them closer to their dream of selling their books.

Mark said, “every day we did 5 radio interviews, or sent out 5 copies to book editors who might review our book, or called 5 network marketing companies and asked them to buy the book as a motivational tool for their sales people, or we gave a seminar to at least 5 people and sold the books at the back of the room.”

Jack added, “We wrote 5 press releases, we called in to 5 talk shows (sometimes at 3am), we even went to 5 gas stations, bakeries, restaurants, you name it, always selling our book. Day in, day out we did a minimum of 5 things for over two years.”

And then, finally, they broke through!

The tree they were chopping fell (thankfully not on top of them) — they found a publisher who believed in them and that snowball of public momentum continued rolling and hasn’t stopped to this day!


You Can Do It Too

Like Mark and Jack, you can use this wisdom to create real change in your life and achieve your goals.

Will it be easy?

Probably not.

Will you have to work hard?

Probably so.

But if your dream is important to you, if this is your legacy, then why not put in the effort AND use a productivity hack that is proven to work – The Rule of 5.

The Rule of 5 Challenge

Try the Rule of 5 Productivity Hack for 5 Weeks and see if if works for you.

I’d wager that it will – not just a little, but a lot.

I’d also wager that once you get things snowballing in the right direction by using the Rule of 5 and you start seeing success, you’ll be motivated to keep going – which will lead to even more success.

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Want to Read the Chicken Soup Books?

If you’ve never read the Chicken Soup books, you’re missing out. There is quite of bit of wisdom for life in these books and there are books for pretty much every occasion. Here’s some of the most popular ones…

See all the Chicken Soup Books here


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