Oprah, Bill Gates And Obama All Use This Rule For Success

Oprah, Bill Gates And Obama All Use This Rule For Success The 5-hour what? youre probably asking. Five-hour naps? Networking? Meditation? What exactly am I supposed to be doing for 5 hours?The answer may surprise you, but its simply this deliberate learning. For 5 hours per week. According to 5 hours per week? you might be wondering. Where do I find that kind of time?As a working mom of two little boys who also practices law and runs a business, my own answer is this in bits and pieces. And scheduled intentionally.Heres how I approach Simmons 3 buckets1. Reading No, I dont have a solid hour each day to sit and read a book. But I do have 10 minutes on the metro on the way to work, and another 10 minutes on the way home. I crawl into bed a good 10 minutes before I go to sleep, to curl up with a book, too. I focus my reading most intently on issues related to working parenthood (heres my 2017 list of inspiring reads for working moms), which helps both with my own personal life and with my business. So theres 30 minutes per day, already.2. Reflection My approach here is twofold. First, I am very deliberate about how I use my shower time in the morning. For the few minutes Im alone getting ready every morning, I set an intention for my day, stretch, savor that hot water, and enjoy some quiet thinking time. Second, I schedule days for reflection into my calendar because if something isnt on my calendar, it doesnt happen. Every year, for example, my husband and I schedule two retreat days per year to step back, reflect, and plan out the next 6 months or year. Im also a big fan of scheduled days for quiet reflection and meditation, and I do things like the Half-Day unterbrechung yoga and meditation retreat in D.C. at the change of seasons.3. Experimentation If Ive bothered to take the time to read or learn about something, Im then intentional about putting these learnings to good use. For example, I recently attended the Womens Power Conference in Maryland and attende d some fantastic, really informative sessions. One of the lectures I attended was on using storytelling to boost your presentation skills, and well-timed I had a presentation to give the following week. During my talk, I played around with the concepts I had just learned and tried them on for size. Reading and listening to lectures, podcasts, webinars, etc. are wonderful first steps. But all that knowledge does no good if you dont get out there and apply it.I know so many of us are short on time, and squeezing in 5 hours of anything seems like a stretch. But if you schedule it in first, and use the nooks and crannies of time you already have to be intentional about your learning, I promise youll see leaps in what youre able to accomplish.--Lori K. Mihalich-Levin, JD, is the founder ofMindful Return, author ofBack to Work After Baby How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return from Maternity Leave, and creator of theMindful Return E-Course. A partner in the health care practice of a g lobal law firm, she also is mama to two beautiful red-headed boys. Lori holds a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton Universitys Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.