Since I’ve left the NFPA Annual Meeting back in mid-February, I’ve been going, going, and gone — between several project deadlines and event after event with my family and work, I’ve barely stopped moving. This has caused me to have a real tunnel vision the last few weeks, sitting at the desk and not looking up much.
We all know this isn’t healthy, so I’m circling back to the NFPA closing presentation from Suneel Gupta, with his simple concept to reset and become more energetic, focused, and productive. Gupta — an American entrepreneur, author, television host, and keynote speaker — knows a thing or two about productivity.
Suneel Gupta presents at the NFPA Annual Meeting on the 55:5 principle about the importance of rest and energy.
The 55:5 principle suggests you complete 55 minutes of focused work, followed by 5 minutes of real rest. Not scrolling or catching up on email. Actual rest, which can be a quick walk out in the sunshine, closing your eyes, or stopping to make coffee. Anything that takes your mind off work for just five minutes.
In a world of back-to-back meetings, tight deadlines, and constant pressure to do more with less, carving out five minutes every hour sounds like a luxury most of us can’t afford. But after a month of nonstop deadlines, I’m thinking my brain, my eyes, and my soul could use that little break.
We need to rethink rest. As Gupta noted, we feel like we must earn rest through hard work. Once our inbox is clear, or the deadline has been met, we can breathe. But the inbox is never empty and there will always be another deadline. We do not do our best work when we’re exhausted though. The 55:5 principle means that rest is not a reward for our efforts. It’s charging you to do better.
That distinction matters, especially where precision, creativity, and problem-solving are everything. The quality of your thinking is directly tied to your energy. And we all know energy isn’t infinite. It needs to be managed just as deliberately as time.
Gupta shared some of the research behind this concept and it was eye-opening. In studies measuring brain activity and performance, individuals who took short, intentional breaks throughout the day didn’t accomplish less; they maintained a higher level of performance and ended the day in a similar mental state to how they began. Meanwhile, those who powered through without breaks often logged more total “work time” but saw their effectiveness steadily decline. By the end of the day, they were mentally exhausted, less creative, and more prone to errors.
If you think about that in the context of our industry, it’s not hard to see the implications. How many design revisions, troubleshooting missteps, or communication breakdowns are really the result of fatigue rather than capability? In our industry, we are super focused on efficiency but rarely apply that same lens to ourselves.
The 55:5 model doesn’t ask you to rethink your entire schedule or find hours of extra time. It simply challenges the notion that every meeting needs to be a full hour, or that work should stretch until you’re mentally drained. I’ve thought about this often with my children, who I believe need more play time for recess. All they need to do is shave one or two minutes from each class, and they’ve suddenly gained more than 10 minutes of extra outside time.
The key, though, Gupta stressed, is intentionality. The rest can’t just be a distraction. It must be about recovery. These small resets signal to your body and mind that it’s okay to downshift, even briefly.
The importance of preventing a burnout extends from productivity into leadership and team dynamics. The mindset you bring into a conversation — focused or scattered, calm or stressed — affects how others respond, collaborate, and contribute. This means that managing the energy you bring to work isn’t just personal. It’s professional. Taking five minutes to reset before walking into a meeting, a plant floor discussion, or even heading home at the end of the day can change the tone and outcome of the interactions we have with others.
This is why the 55:5 principle helps us to show up as our better selves at home and work. It builds recovery into every hour, rather than waiting for the end of the day, the weekend, or the next vacation. That’s why, now that I’m done writing this editorial, I’m vowing to set that 55-minute timer and start now. Will you?
Filed Under: Industry News, News
