The most productive five minutes of my day

The most productive five minutes of my day are when I’m doing absolutely nothing.

Part of my morning routine here in the Algarve is to watch the sun rise over my vegetable garden.

As the day begins, I take a few deep breaths, give thanks for the wonder of life, and prepare myself for whatever lies ahead.

It can be so easy to get caught up in the hurly-burly of life. Work. Pressure. Gym. Family. Friends. Chores.
Before long, we’re reacting rather than choosing.

This simple ritual reminds me that before I lead anyone else, I need to lead myself.

Leadership doesn’t begin with the first meeting of the day.

It begins much earlier, in those still moments when we choose how we want to show up.

An important discipline of leadership is to create enough space to become intentional before the demands of the day take over.

Ironically, those few quiet minutes often become the most productive part of my day because they shape every hour that follows.

There’s good science behind this.

Research, including Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory and the growing body of mindfulness research, has shown that practices such as gratitude and mindfulness broaden our thinking, improve emotional regulation, reduce stress and increase cognitive flexibility.

At the same time, studies on Attention Restoration Theory suggest that even brief periods outside in nature help replenish our capacity to focus and make better decisions.

This also shows up often in my coaching.

Clients often work with me because they’re feeling overwhelmed by the pace of leadership.
They can’t switch off.
A big decision is keeping them awake at night.
Their diary is back-to-back from dawn until dusk.
Or they simply feel they’re operating on autopilot rather than at their best.

We often discover that there’s a lack of space.
Space to think instead of react.
Space to reconnect with what really matters.
Space to process difficult decisions before stepping into the next meeting.

Together, we explore simple practices that create those moments.
They don’t have to involve watching the sun rise over a vegetable garden.
But they do need to become intentional rituals that allow leaders to slow down, reset and show up as the person they want to be, rather than the person their calendar dictates.

So tomorrow morning I’ll be back in my vegetable garden, coffee in hand, watching another Algarve sunrise.Not just because it’s a nice way to start the day.

Because I’ve learnt it’s one of the best ways to prepare myself to lead it.