The 5-Minute Rule of Self Improvement
A simple way to approach any big goal
I thought Dave Castro and I would end up talking military tactics, shooting sports, V-Twins, hog farming, or extreme fitness. Instead, our first five minutes strolling the CrossFit Ranch, which Castro owns and runs as the company’s director of sport, he was telling me about reading really long books. As we headed down a dusty trail to feed some pigs, he began telling me that he plows through 50 or more classic works a year.
This is a lot of books. Particularly when many of those books are constructed like War and Peace or Les Misérables (his favorite), which are each like four books in one. I asked the former Navy Seal how he finds time to read in between tending to the ranch and running the CrossFit Games, which draw nearly half a million competitors from around the globe. (The finals this year took place at the ranch.)
“A few years ago I decided I wanted to read more classic literature,” he told me. “And so I made a rule. Immediately when I wake up I spend at least five minutes reading. Some days it’s only five minutes, but others it’s 90. And then I repeat before bedtime.”
