Use the Two Minute Rule to Stop Procrastinating

Over the past few months, I felt overwhelmed by all the changes going on in my life—and the things I need to do because of and for them. I've been providing administrative help to my partner as he opens a new business, managing professional expansions of my own, studying for a certification exam, overseeing renovations to my apartment, and restructuring my finances while still keeping up with my regular jobs and responsibilities. For a while, I was waking up tired before the day even started despite the fact that most of these boil down to never-ending, tedious, but little tasks like "send that email," "return that phone call," "confirm that account number," and "pick a paint color." I'm convinced it's actually those smaller tasks that burn you out.

If every day were one where I was taking a big swing and doing something that felt monumental, I wouldn't be procrastinating as much as I am. Well, as much as I was. I started falling back on my old friend, the "two-minute rule," and the procrastination I was dealing with a few weeks ago came to a quick halt. I am certain you're busy and overwhelmed, too, so here's how this simple rule works and what it can do for you at times when you feel like you have so much to do that you can't functionally do any of it.

What’s the two minute rule?

The two minute rule came from David Allen, author of Getting Things Done. The idea is simple: If you can get something done in two minutes, just do it. Don’t think it over. Don’t ponder whether it’s more or less important than the heavier lifts you have to do. If it takes two minutes or less to get done, just do it right now.

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

Getting a bunch of minor tasks knocked off your to-do list builds momentum: With several smaller responsibilities taken care of, you’re likely to feel more capable of diving into deeper work. This method is similar to the idea of “eating the frog” in that way, although there are notable differences. When you practice “eating the frog,” you knock out your biggest responsibility first; when you use the two-minute rule, you do the opposite. Which you choose depends on the type of work you have and your personal preference, but both result in a feeling 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 isn’t specific about getting your task done right away when you wake up. Rather, it encourages you to do any simple task the moment it occurs to you. Think of the things that lead you to procrastinate in a regular day. For me, it’s responding to emails: I see emails come in but don’t reply right away, even though that would take me a few seconds. Eventually, I have to respond, but with the added weight of expressing remorse for my untimely reply on top of addressing whatever the original message was about. In worst-case scenarios, the event or need the original email was expressing has evolved, too, 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 came in.

I've been two-minute ruling my emails consistently for the past few weeks, and it's helped me in a number of ways. First, I just feel better and like I have less of a weight on me if I reply, "Thanks, I got this. I'll check it out and get back to you." Even just acknowledging the message is forward progress. Second, it's stopped people from having to send follow-ups or attempting to work on something without my approval or input, possibly doing it in a way I don't prefer or isn't helpful to my goals.

This goes beyond emails, of course; that's just the example of the small tasks that bog down my life. For what it's worth, I think it's valuable to get a little abstract with the "two-minute" idea, but not too abstract. For instance, if your gas tank is on 25%, it will take longer than two minutes to pull off and fill it up, sure, but that's still a small, quick task that needs to get done.

The other benefit here is you stop fretting over everything and wasting so much time. I had to select a wallpaper color the other day and I was dragging that out, exemplifying Parkinson's Law, which states, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." I called on my two-minute rule, made a firm decision instead of continuing to deliberate, and got the wallpaper the next day. Now it's up and I can move on to other things.

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