The Power of MicroPractice: Why 5 Minutes Makes a Big Difference

If you had to make a list of the main obstacles to improving skills, the number one item on the list would be “LIFE.”

We’re busy. Really busy. Maybe busier than any generation, ever. So naturally we tend to assume that, in order to improve our skills, we need to set aside a good-size chunk of time: an hour or so. To practice for merely five minutes feels like a silly waste of time.

We’re wrong.

There’s evidence to show that daily micropractices — five minutes or so — are effective and often superior to longer weekly practices.

One reason: on days you don’t practice, skills erode. You are forced to spend significant part of the next session re-learning what you’ve forgotten.

When you practice a little each day, skills don’t erode. In fact, they consolidate. It’s like a bank account earning compound interest: a virtuous spiral where skill accrues quickly.

The larger idea here is that deep practice is a construction process where you’re connecting and honing living wires in your brain. Spending daily bursts of time works, because it’s aligned with the ways our brains actually grow — a little bit every day.