We all know what it’s like when you come home with the children having picked them up from nursery or school and you know that you’ve got a mountain of work that you need to get through.
It’s not unusual to shove a quick snack in front of them and get straight back into the work asking for “10 minutes” to just fire off a quick email.
We all know that this could just as easily turn into 10 hours, given half the chance, and lends itself to interruptions anyway because your children want one thing or another and soon grow restless.
What is the 15-minute rule
The 15-minute rule is basically giving your family the first 15 minutes of your time when you come home.
This means that as soon as you walk through the door you don’t start checking your emails on your phone or doing any work-related activity – you focus purely on the family.
You give them 15 minutes of your undivided attention to talk about their day and their concerns. You don’t rush and half-listen to them but give them 15 minutes of your complete undivided attention.
Why it works
We all like to feel special. Think about how it would feel if when your spouse comes home and goes straight to the TV to watch his sports and just sat there for hours without even acknowledging your existence or that of your children. Not great, right?
But if he he came home and spent 15 minutes just asking how your day has been and genuinely wanting to have a chat and spend some quality time with you before switching the telly on, wouldn’t that make a difference?
Because the 15 minutes comes before anything else it doesn’t make you feel as if you’re unimportant – and that’s the same way your family will feel if you use the 15-minute rule.
Try it today and see what a huge difference it will make.
