What is the 1-3-5 rule?

 

The 1-3-5 rule acknowledges that in a typical day, you just don’t have time to do it all. What you do reasonably have time for is one major task, three medium-sized tasks, and five little ones.

These can be related or they can be separate. For instance, a big task might be going to your tax appointment, which is unrelated to your three mid-sized tasks: grocery shopping, preparing for a meeting at work, and picking up a gift for a friend’s birthday. Small tasks can be anything from answering emails to laying out your clothes for the week, depending on what you consider large, medium, and small.

Conversely, the rule can also apply to major tasks and involve batching them into smaller groups. Say you’re planning a vacation. The 1-3-5 rule can help you break up everything you need to do. The big task can be booking flights and hotel accommodations. Three medium tasks might be getting tickets to whatever you’ll be doing while you’re at the destination, shopping for what you’ll need, and securing a pet sitter. Little tasks can be anything from setting an OOO to emailing around the itinerary.