In 1993, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen had a goal: to get their book Chicken Soup for the Soul to the top of The New York Times bestseller’s list. They sought out the advice of 15 best-selling authors (including John Gray, Ken Blanchard, and Scott Peck), but as helpful as their advice was, they were overwhelmed with information.
The Trap We Fall Into
If you can’t decide which information to choose, it can cause analysis paralysis, decision fatigue and even inaction
- What if you applied everything you learned by taking five actions every day to ascertain what works for you?
- How could this help you to achieve your goals faster?
The Power of Persistence
Eventually, Canfield and Hansen’s persistence paid off: They sent copies of the book to all the jurors in the O.J. Simpson trial.
- The next day, four of the jurors were spotted reading the book by the press, and that led to some valuable public relations for the book.
The Rule of Five
Ron Scolastico used the analogy of a lumberjack cutting down a tree to simplify what they needed to do
- If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp axe, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down
- They created the rule of five: commit to taking five daily actions that would quickly move their goal towards completion
How You Can Use the Rule of Five
It forces you to think outside the box and consider actions you wouldn’t have previously considered.
- For example, if you want to go on a diet, what five daily actions could you take that would help you lose weight?
- You could also take other actions that would contribute to your goal in the long term.
