Build a Lifelong Habit of Learning With the 5-Hour Rule

I’ve always been a curious learner.

As a kid, I’d spend hours outside alone watching nature. I loved to see how bugs interacted with their environment and with each other. It was a whole world that I was privileged to observe and learn from.

When I got older, I became an avid reader. Fiction, nonfiction, it didn’t really matter. I wanted to learn as much as I could about, well, everything.

The problem as I became an adult, though,was finding the time to learn. Between running a business, raising kids — and everything else — learning took a backseat to other responsibilities.

But I slowly realized that I was at my happiest when I made time to learn. So, I decided to make more time for it. Doing so has helped me grow my business, and grow as a person.

A major principle that helped me to rekindle that habit of learning:

The five-hour rule.

What is the five-hour rule? How can it help you to build, or rebuild, a habit of learning — and to maintain that habit? Let’s discuss. (If you find value in this lesson, you might be interested in my free emotional intelligence course, which teaches you how to build emotional intelligence.)

What is the 5-hour rule?

I discovered the five-hour rule a few years ago when reading an article by fellow Inc. contributor Michael Simmons, who credits American inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin for inspiring the name.

Franklin would wake up early each weekday and spend an hour reading, writing, setting goals, and tracking results, writes Simmons. Franklin would then take time to reflect on what he had learned. Eventually, he even created a club for “likeminded artisans and tradesmen” hoping to improve themselves and their communities.

“Every time that Franklin took time out of his busy day to follow his five-hour rule and spend at least an hour learning, he accomplished less on that day,” wrote Simmons. “However, in the long run, it was arguably the best investment of his time he could have made.”

As Simmons spent months studying successful inventors, authors, and entrepreneurs, he discovered a revealing pattern. Many of these successful people also followed the “five-hour rule” in one form or another:

Spend at least an hour a day, every weekday, in “deliberate learning,” reflecting, and thinking.

Simmons concluded that the five-hour rule reflected what he saw over and over again in those who had achieved success in various forms: The smartest and most successful people are consistent and deliberate learners.

Why the 5-hour rule helps you make learning a habit

The five-hour rule is beneficial, not only because it keeps learning and growing in the forefront, but because it turns that learning into a sustainable habit.

You know learning new skills is a good thing. But with your attention constantly pulled in a thousand different directions, it’s all too easy to push learning and deep thinking down to the bottom of your to-do list.

Or you may feel that you already have information overload. After all, you’re constantly reading and consuming on your phone or computer. But how much of that is deliberate learning, the type that will help you grow?

The five-hour rule helps you to make such deliberate learning a priority. Even more, though, it provides structure so you can build and maintain the habit. After all, everyone can afford an hour a day; the key is all in the scheduling.

For me, the one “learning hour” a day is actually split up over two separate times. I use a half-hour in the morning before starting work to read, reflect, and think. Then, I use another half-hour later that morning or afternoon to study a specific skill and practice it. 

You might decide to apply the five-hour rule differently. For example, you could schedule your deliberate learning sessions each day as follows:

• A single one-hour block
• Two half-hour blocks
• Three 20-minute blocks
• Four 15-minute blocks

Of course, depending on your schedule, you could even plan for more than an hour a day. Or maybe you feel you can only manage 30 minutes a day. The key is to just get started.

So, if you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, or running but not actually getting anywhere, why not try the five-hour rule?

If you do, you’ll be building a habit of consistently learning, progressing, and growing — and that’s a major return on investment for just an hour a day.