Use the Two Minute Rule to Stop Procrastinating

Over the past few months, I have felt overwhelmed by all the changes happening in my life and the things I needed to do because of and for them. I have provided administrative assistance to my partner as he opens a new business, manages my own professional expansion, studies for a certification exam, oversees my apartment renovations, and restructures my finances while continuing to fulfill my regular jobs and responsibilities. For a while, I would wake up tired before the day even started, even though most of them boiled down to endless, tedious, but small tasks like “send this email,” “return this call,” “confirm this account number,” and “choose a paint color.” I’m convinced that it’s actually these small tasks that exhaust you.

If every day was a time where I took a big step forward and did something that felt monumental to me, I wouldn’t procrastinate as much as I do. Well, as much as me was. I started falling back on my old friend, the “two-minute rule,” and the procrastination I was dealing with a few weeks ago quickly stopped. I’m sure you’re busy and overwhelmed too, so here’s how this simple rule works and what it can do for you when you feel like you have so much to do that you can’t get anything done functionally.

What is the two minute rule?

The two-minute rule came from David Allen, author of Getting things done. The idea is simple: if you can do something in two minutes, do it. Don’t think about it. Don’t worry about whether it’s more or less important than the heavier lifts you need to do. If it takes two minutes or less, do it now.

Doing tasks while they’re still small potatoes keeps them from growing into bigger projects, the kind that take more than two minutes. For example, it takes you less than two minutes to wash the dishes after a single meal. If you let them pile up every time you eat, it will take longer when you finally have to do it, and you’ll be more likely to procrastinate knowing it’s going to take you a while.

Knocking a number of smaller tasks off your to-do list builds momentum: With several smaller responsibilities taken care of, you’ll likely feel more capable of diving into deeper work. This method is similar to the idea of ​​”eating the frog” in this manner, although there are notable differences. When you practice “eating the frog,” you knock out your the biggest responsibility first; when you use the two-minute rule, you do the opposite. Which one you choose depends on the type of job you have and your personal preferences, but both result in a sense of accomplishment that can propel you through the rest of your workload.

How to Use the Two Minute Rule Effectively

Unlike eating the frog, the two-minute rule is not specifically about completing your task as soon as you wake up. On the contrary, it encourages you to complete any simple task as soon as it comes to mind. Think about the things that cause you to procrastinate during an ordinary day. For me, it’s about responding to emails: I see emails coming in but I don’t respond right away, even though it would take me a few seconds. Eventually I have to respond, but with the added weight of expressing remorse for my ill-timed response in addition to addressing the subject of the original post. Worst case scenario, the event or need expressed in the original email has also evolved because I didn’t take care of it right away. Then I have to deal with a situation that is worse or more urgent than it was when the email first arrived.

I spent two minutes managing my emails consistently over the past few weeks, and it has helped me in several ways. First, I feel better and like I have less weight on me if I say, “Thanks, I understand. I’ll check and get back to you.” Simply recognizing the message constitutes progress. Second, it prevented people from having to send follow-ups or attempt to work on something without my approval or input, perhaps doing it in a way that I don’t prefer or that doesn’t help me achieve my goals.

This goes beyond emails of course; it’s just the example of small tasks that get bogged down My life. For what it’s worth, I think it helps to be a little abstract with the “two minutes” idea, but not too abstract. For example, if your gas tank is at 25%, it will take more than two minutes to remove and refill it, sure, but it’s still a quick little task that needs to be accomplished.

The other advantage here is that you stop worrying about everything and wasting so much time. The other day I had to select a wallpaper color and was dragging it out, illustrating Parkinson’s Law, which states: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” I called upon my two-minute rule, made a firm decision instead of continuing to deliberate, and got the wallpaper back the next day. Now it’s over and I can move on.