The Power of Five Minutes: How Tiny Commitments Create Lasting Momentum

A lot of people struggle to build momentum because they make the starting line feel overwhelming. In this episode, I share the story of my wife’s “five-minute rule” that helped her run every single day for an entire year and why momentum is something we create. We discuss the psychology behind consistency, Greg McKeown’s concept of “Minimal Viable Progress,” and how stacking small wins helps us produce massive breakthroughs.

Learn More About Zach:

• Explore 1:1 coaching with Zach -- Schedule a free call here
• Subscribe to my free newsletter here

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

A few years ago, my wife made a personal goal to run every single day for the entire year. It was 365 consecutive days worth. But to accomplish something like this, there's gonna be no shortage of roadblocks and adversity in pursuit of it. You're gonna have days where you're busy, you're gonna have days where you might be traveling, days where you're tired, worn out, maybe sick. And what about just simply the days where you feel unmotivated? But my wife was quite clever. The most important detail for her pursuit of this goal was the simple system and rule that she followed for it. For it to count, she only had to run for five minutes. That's it. And I think there's such a great mindset lesson hidden inside this rule because I think a lot of people can get overwhelmed when they focus on the sheer size or magnitude of their goals. So today on the podcast, I want to talk about why action will drive momentum for all of us and how one of the most important skills in life is learning to create something that we call an MVP. Hey coaches and leaders, I got a quick question for you. You spend a lot of time building game plans for those you lead, but when was the last time you built one for yourself? If you're looking to sharpen your leadership skills, strengthen your team culture, or find better ways to support and challenge your athletes in the mental game, I'd love to help. I'm offering a free coaching call where we can talk through your current challenges and create a simple game plan for what might move the needle most for you, your players, and your program. Most coaches I know obsess over developing their team, but they neglect the person in the mirror. This call is a chance to invest in you because a better you is going to produce a better them. And if that sounds helpful, you can grab a time at Callendly.com slash Zach Brandon. That's Callinly.com slash Zach Brandon, or just check the link in the show notes. I'd love to connect and explore how I can best support you. Now not everyone might be uh aware of this, but this past weekend was actually my wife Callie's birthday. And over the years, she's become both not only my co-pilot, but also an unofficial uh test audience for almost every idea that I share publicly. She's heard the vast majority of my stories, analogies, test ideas throughout the course of time, even some jokes along the way. Um, and countless times I've sought her approval by sharing one of them with her. But one of my favorite lessons actually comes from her and watching her pursue one of her own goals. So several years ago, she decided that she wanted to run every single day for the entire year. Now I'll cut to the end briefly to tell you that she did in fact accomplish this goal, which was quite remarkable because as I mentioned earlier, there were days where she was sick, days where she was tired. She even did it um in a year where she actually had her wisdom teeth pulled and she was able to pull it off, um, even the mitts uh going through that. So again, she was able to accomplish it, and again, not just maybe because she's a badass or discipline, um, but her success was also a product of a very simple system. Any run could count as long as it lasted for five minutes. The system was remarkably effective because it was geared towards helping her navigate the days and moments when it would be easiest to negotiate or choose not to do it. Anyone trying to accomplish something for 365 days straight is going to encounter some obstacles, moments where it would be very easy to stop. But what made the system so powerful was that she didn't design it around her best days, she built it around some of her hardest ones. One of the things that she shared with me multiple times throughout the year was how she'd often tell herself, I can at least go for five minutes. And then when she got moving, she realized she could keep going. Her example is a great reminder that mo momentum requires action. You can't just rely on inspirational thinking. There's a lot of people that are waiting to feel motivated before they begin something. They're waiting to feel inspired, energized, confident, or maybe just fully ready before they take action towards the thing that they say they want. But in reality, momentum is usually created after you start, not before. And one of the most effective ways to create consistency is by lowering the psychological friction required to begin in the first place. The challenge that people face though is that many make the starting line psychologically overwhelming. We stare at the full transformation instead of the next manageable step. We think about losing the total of 40 pounds instead of today's workout, writing the entire book instead of just writing one page, fixing the relationship instead of just having that one conversation you've been avoiding, or building the business instead of just simply focusing on one sales call. Eventually the weight of the entire goal can become paralyzing for some. Now, this is also tied to a psychological principle called the goal gradient effect. I actually discussed it a lot more in detail back all the way in episode eight, which suggests that motivation and effort increased as people perceive themselves getting closer to a goal. So if you know that feeling of seeing a finish line or destination and getting that surge of adrenaline to help you kick to the end, then that's exactly what the goal gradient effect is all about. People will accelerate when progress feels more attainable. And I think that's exactly why the five-minute rule works so well. My wife wasn't waking up every day thinking, okay, I have to keep my streak alive and do this for 365 straight days. She was thinking, I can go run for five minutes. That goal felt a lot more psychologically approachable. Learning how to make progress feel more approachable can be incredibly helpful as you pursue goals and especially when you find yourself stuck or overwhelmed along the way. Now, here's where I'd also like to bring in um Greg McCown. Uh he's an author, he wrote the book Essentialism, that's uh highly well regarded. I it was one of my favorite books that I read several years ago, and one of the concepts that he shares uh is an MVP process. He calls it the minimal viable progress. Now, in the business and startup world, we think of the MVP idea in the form of a minimum viable product, the simplest version needed to get started for that product uh to be put out and to have some feedback for it. Now, McAllen, though, had adapted the idea into personal growth and performance by asking, what's the smallest action you could consistently repeat that's going to keep you moving forward toward the person, goal, or life that you want to build? So before you create a massive breakthrough, it's likely going to be the product of a ton of small wins that you've stacked along the way. Even our seemingly smallest wins can be essential as we try to compound our daily efforts and habits into something that's a more tangible result in our lives. It all just happens one rep, one conversation, one page, and even one five minute run at a time. So my question for you today is where in your life have you made the goal so big that you've unintentionally made it difficult to even start? And instead of asking, how do I completely transform my life overnight, just ask what would minimum viable progress look like right now? And whatever you choose, just make sure it's something that you can honor, even on your toughest days. Now, my wife's goal, it was never really just about five minutes. The five minutes was simply the minimal viable progress. It was a way to reduce friction, a way to create consistency, and a way to keep momentum going. And sometimes our next breakthrough is simply making it easier to get off the starting line because momentum is never going to be just found. Oftentimes, it's going to be created.