Using the Heart of Palm Method

I was watching one of the reality shows that pit man against nature with little else.  Although highly edited, (one member had a staff with day notches in it, with about seven notches above the crawl that told us it was day one) I came across an interesting lesson.

Early in the challenge, the issues of fire and water were solved as well as some sources of fish. (I will blog later about semantic laziness and the use of the word protein).  However the need for food of any kind was apparent.

One of the contestants found a cabbage palm tree, whose center contained the fruit heart of palm.  However to harvest this required chopping down the tree and cutting into the center to harvest the heart of palm.

Bearing in mind these shows are heavily edited, the contestants seemed to go at the tree in lengthy bursts thereby exhausting themselves and being forced to lie down or immerse themselves in the nearby stream.

My comment to the TV screen was "Why don't they go hard at the tree for about five minutes every hour of daylight until it is done?"  By doing so, their energy level would allow for gathering, fishing, drinking and resting.  And more than likely, the momentum would be self fulfilling as nearing the goal would provide additional motivation.  Thus, the tree would come down much earlier and provide food for a longer period.

Here is our common sense aha.  Why not apply this "heart of palm" method to our daily routine?  For example, take a break from a task by performing another task for a few minutes.  A good way to do this is to set a kitchen timer for a hour and then at the end of the hour take five minutes on another activity.

Write for an hour, then straighten you closet for five minutes.  Get on a conference call for an hour, then spend five minutes standing up and dusting your desk. 

Nothing really new here, but as with all things in the common sense realm, we need to remind ourselves. 

Napoleon:

“The reason I beat the Austrians is, they did not known the value of five minutes”