When appointed with a leadership role, leaders may struggle to juggle between their professional and personal lives. With professional sphere always proving to be of greater importance, deadlines and responsibilities have received more attention. In this scenario, it is easy for business honchos to neglect their own needs and miss out on crucial opportunities to improve upon themselves.

According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review, 50% of senior leaders showed a cavalier attitude towards their skill development efforts, resulting in the lack of modern critical skills and depleted organisational capabilities.

If you are a senior leader, or you have aims to avail yourself with a managerial position in near future, we would advise you to make proactive use of ‘five hour rule’. The most coveted of leaders, to name a few; Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey, have followed and championed this rule by chalking out a strict training/deliberate practise time of an hour daily to refurbish their skills.

Going by the words of Oprah Winfrey, reading books is her key to success. She feels the books provide her with a medium of independent learning and has deemed them to be her “path to personal freedom”.

While Warren Buffet spends approx. 5 hours daily reading newspapers, and 500 pages of corporate reports that help him delve deeper into the roots of industry.

The five hour rule does not just circle around reading. It involves way more than what meets the eye. It takes a form of rapid experimentation as well, which Google and Facebook actively promote amongst employees. This helps them to experiment throughout the day.

However, how can you apply this “five hour rule” to your life? Mentioned below are some simple steps which might facilitate you for a seamless integration of this rule in your daily routine:

  • Reserve an hour from your daily routine for reading and learning. This should be regardless of your overwhelming work schedule.
  • If you are able to take out the dedicated time, try to focus sans getting distracted.
  • Every hour of learning will definitely offer you some real life hacks, which you should practise and try to implement in your daily life.