What Can You Say in Five Minutes?

 

Author Says Time Limits Are the Key To Meaningful Conversations

What started as an “inside joke” for author Vivian Diller has turned into a conversation phenomenon among her family and friends. In her article on HuffingtonPost.com, Ms. Diller describes the evolution of her casual suggestion to her friends that they limit to “five minutes… the time we spend talking about our suffering body parts, so that we can move on to discussing other more enjoyable matters?” into a guideline that has been adopted by an ever-expanding circle.

Word about the Five-Minute Rule spread and soon, to her surprise, Ms. Diller was hearing stories — and thanks — from her in-laws, her friends, her married children, even her younger children, about how the rule improved their conversations and communication. Her daughter told her, “ ‘I hate to admit it, but your Five-Minute Rule keeps us from going on about relationship minutia.’ "

Scientific American reports that a study performed by Washington University shows that “adding five substantive conversations to your weekly social calendar could boost your spirits dramatically.” The happiest subjects in the study were found to have spent 70 percent more time discussing the unhappiest topics. Adhering to the Five-Minute Rule, this could be accomplished in less than half an hour a week.

Ms. Diller has compiled a list of age-bracketed topics that should fall under the Five-Minute Rule:

The Greatest Generation — Aching knees; aching hips; the new knee!; the new hip!, “remember when everyone listened to Frank Sinatra?”

Baby Boomers — Botox, Viagra, and all that keeps things up; sags, bags and all that droops, “remember when we heard Frank Zappa?”

Gen X’ers — child’s chess awards; child’s soccer awards; “remember when we listened to rap instead of Raffi?”

For her complete list, read her article here.