Stop Procrastinating With the “Two–Minute Rule”

Summer is a great time to break a bad habit or create a new fabulous one. Whether you’re spending these weeks hard at work at UC Davis or lounging by the pool at your beautiful Tandem apartment, this is a stellar time for a little self-improvement. Lifehack.org has a super easy rule to follow that will get you started down the road to a new and improved you.

How to Stop Procrastinating With the “2–Minute Rule”

I call this little strategy the “2–Minute Rule” and the goal is to make it easier for you to get started on the things you should be doing.

Here’s the deal: Most of the tasks that you procrastinate on aren’t actually difficult to do; you have the talent and skills to accomplish them, but you just avoid starting them for one reason or another. The 2–Minute Rule overcomes procrastination and laziness by making it so easy to start taking action that you can’t say no.

There are two parts to the 2–Minute Rule:

Part 1 — If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now.

This part originally comes from David Allen’s bestselling book, Getting Things Done.

It’s surprising how many things we put off that we could get done in two minutes or less. For example, washing your dishes immediately after your meal, tossing the laundry in the washing machine, taking out the garbage, cleaning up clutter, sending that email, and so on.

If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, then follow the rule and do it right now.

Want to read the second part of this neat trick? Click on the link above and see how easy it is.