Saturday, 9 May 2026

Seth's Blog : The narrow window of redemption

Where did the five-second rule come from? Science makes it clear that if disgusting germs are going to go from the floor to your toast, it's going to take less than five seconds for that to happen. It might as well be the four-minute rule as far as food ...
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The narrow window of redemption

Where did the five-second rule come from?

Science makes it clear that if disgusting germs are going to go from the floor to your toast, it’s going to take less than five seconds for that to happen.

It might as well be the four-minute rule as far as food safety goes.

But it’s compelling and universal. A chance to fix a relatively small error, one associated with an outcome you were hoping for.

Innovation involves lots of failure, but we rarely encourage ourselves to adopt a five-second rule when we’re brainstorming, inventing or developing what’s next.

Please do.

Tiny mistakes are fixable. Avoiding them is how we get stuck.

        

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