The 2 Minute Rule

‘Eh… I’ll do it later’ - sounds familiar? This little voice in your mind always creeping around, telling you to put things off just because you’re feeling a little lazy. But this rule right here really turned things around for me - I can’t emphasize how much it has been helping me to eliminate bad procrastination habits. It’s also spurred me on to just get started on a smalls habits I wanted to inculcate into my life!

So what is the 2 Minute Rule?

 If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now! - David Allen - ‘Getting Things Done’

One of the ways to continually be productive is to ensure that we declutter our minds and are ticking stuff off our mental to-do list. Executing and completing a task which takes less than 2 minutes to complete does exactly that! This rule can be applied to any task you’re thinking about, and I guarantee it will help you feel AWESOME!

Bye Bye Procrastination!

Here’s a simple example: Bringing your cup to the sink and giving it a rinse once you are done with your coffee - that takes less than a minute! We could leave the cup on the table, causing a residual coffee stain and perhaps attracting unwanted pests to the table. Think about it - by washing your cup that instant, you avoid having to remember, and eventually take the time to clear a potentially unwanted mess!

Another reason why I love this rule: I realize that I don’t lose my things is because I always make the effort to put my stuff back where it belongs. I always know where my items are, and have the confidence to know that it’s there in it’s designated place! Again, putting your stuff back into place after you are done with it takes less than 2 minutes to execute - yet lots of people don’t bother to make the effort, and end up misplacing their stuff all over the house!

Even when I go out, I have a habit of placing my phone in my right pocket, my keys in my left pocket, and my wallet in my back pocket. Everytime I leave a location, I ensure I check my pockets and give my butt a pat to ensure everything is place before I leave! I’ve never lost my belongings since I’ve implemented this rule (and hope that I don’t start losing them now I’ve said this…)

Starting A Habit

I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog post - but to develop any sort of habit, we should start off with a small goal. To facilitate this, the 2 minute rule comes in extremely handy! Obviously not everything we set out to achieve can be completed in 2 minutes - however, once you get the inertia going, things will get into motion! Remember, make the task you’re about to attempt so easy, you can’t say no to it!

‘I should read for 2 minutes a day’, open your book and read for 2 minutes. More often than not you’ll finish reading a few chapters and 10 minutes would have already passed!

‘I should start running regularly’ - put on your running shoes and run for 2 minutes! Once you get the momentum going, I guarantee you won’t stop running at the 2 minute mark! After all, you’re already in your running gear and have started to run - might as well run till you’re tired right?

Ever finished clearing your desk, cleaning the wardrobe, or even finishing a gym session and felt this overall sense of just being super pleased with yourself? Yep, it’s that exact feeling of accomplishment you get when you finish a task, no matter how simple or minute it might be. The feeling of this is caused by the spike in your dopamine levels (the feel good hormone) in your brain - and since you’ll always want to feel good, you’ll start associating this behavior / habit with it’ll gradually feel natural to you to do :)

So try implementing this rule into your life! After all, small changes compound and eventually you’ll see the long term effects of this simple rule change your life bit by bit!

2 minutes on the timer: do whatever you need to do now! :)

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PS. Whenever I see this rule, I think of Madonna & Justin Timberlake’s song ‘4 Minutes. ’WE ONLY GOT 4 MINUTES TO SAVE THE WORLD!!!’ - and I just imagine myself having 2 minutes to save my world by completing my task :P

Resources

‘Getting Things Done’ - David Allen ( Book | Depends on your reading speed )

‘How to Stop Procrastinating’ - James Clear ( Article | 3 min read )

‘4 Minutes’ - Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland ( Youtube Music Video | 4:05 min )