The Magical 12 Minutes

05 Aug The Magical 12 Minutes

According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, ‘Just 20 minutes of daily exercise promotes intelligence and better mood. Exercise, in fact, is one of the most effective prevention and treatment strategies for depression. A 2012 study published by the journal Neuroscience, states that the ‘secret’ to increased productivity and happiness on any given day is a long-term investment in regular exercise — and a ‘little’ exercise each day goes further than a lot once or twice a week.’

Exercising Your Leadership

Skipping your daily physical exercise weakens your mental (memory and cognition) and emotional (feelings and expression) capabilities. In much the same way, skipping your daily ‘interactions’ with your team members at work, or your family members at home, weakens connection and lowers relational-capacity. When that happens, risk increases and total business performance drops.

Work studies show that sustained human-separation causes a relational disconnect that leads to substandard performance. Dr. Donald O. Clifton (1924-2003), Gallup’s Father of Strengths Psychology and Inventor of the Clifton StrengthsFinder® discovered in his research that, ‘Our lives are predominantly shaped by our interactions with others. Every interaction makes a difference. These interactions accumulate and profoundly impact our lives.’ So, after Donald and his colleagues conducted millions of interviews, focusing on the positive instead of the negative [human interactions] , he and his grandson, Tom Rath, wrote a book titled, How Full is Your Bucket?.

All leaders should set the goal of helping everyone in every organization become bucket-fillers. Leaders need to shine a light on what’s right about people to increase the positive emotional energy that’s needed to maximize results. In a world of more, better and faster, the simple and routine act of productively connecting with others on a daily basis offers every company an opportunity to lift performance while simultaneously enriching the quality of life.

Promote and Produce Productivity in 12 Minutes

All of us can make 12 minutes of each hour a more impactful part of our daily work-life. 12 minutes equals 20% of every hour (i.e., .20 x 60 minutes = 12). According to the 80/20 Principle, 12 minutes represents the Vital Few minutes destined to deliver 80% of what you achieve in your job [if] you invest your time and energy on the most profitable work.

By applying the 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch asserts ‘You can multiply your highs, cut out most of the lows and you can help others do the same.’

Little produces more than much when buckets are full and every minute is meaningful, it’s like magic!