Any work you can complete in less than a couple of minutes should be done immediately. That’s the 2-minute rule in a nutshell.
It’s a simple exercise that works incredibly well: By acting on small tasks immediately you prevent procrastination and can focus on more time-consuming and challenging work during your biological prime time.
Using this strategy effectively isn’t just about doing small tasks when they first come to mind, though.
You have to implement a system that allows you to capture all action items, and then learn how to act on each one of them in an effectively and timely manner. This blog post will show you how to do just that.
Start by Capturing Every Piece of Outstanding Work
Not too long ago, I wrote down all tasks, to-dos, and errands that had been weighing on my mind.
From small action items to larger projects: Every piece of work that I planned on undertaking in the future made its way onto a piece of paper.
The exercise was liberating and it’s effects were lasting. I wasn’t reminded of all the work I still had to complete and could navigate the world around me with a greater sense of clarity.
Writing down every action item or project that’s on your mind can free up valuable mental space, writes productivity consultant David Allen in his bestselling book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
Since it was first published more than 15 years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era and the ultimate book on personal organization. “GTD” is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.
Your Open Loops Weigh on Your Mind
Any item that can’t be acted upon immediately and requires work on your part in the future will weigh on you if you don’t capture it properly in a task list.
If you tell yourself, “I’ll remember to do this later,” and don’t feel the need to write it down when it comes to mind, you run the risk of clouding your subconscious, which can leave you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or worse. The work doesn’t get done and your ability to be productive declines.
Anything that needs to get done should be stored in notebook, mobile app, or other capturing device. That way you don’t have to keep it in your head and can free up mental space for more important activities, like creative work. It also allows you to return to it later when you have the time and capacity to complete it.
Use the 2-Minute Rule to Prevent Procrastination
Once we’ve written down all the tasks that have been weighing down on us, we face a new challenge: procrastination. We procrastinate when we don’t clearly define the scope of important tasks.
When we’re vague about what we want to get done, we subconsciously conclude that the work to be undertaken is time-consuming and difficult, when in reality, we’re often just a couple quick tasks away from completion.
A simple strategy that helps combat procrastination involves you asking good questions:
- What actions will move this project toward completion?
- Who do I need to involve to get best results?
- Can I break down tasks into smaller ones?
- How much or little time will each action take?
- What’s the next action that will move the needle?
- What’s the desired outcome?
Where the 2-Minute Rule Comes Into Play
When answering these questions you gain clarity about the work to be done and see the bigger picture. Most importantly, you’ll find that many big tasks don’t take as much time as you had initially thought, and can be broken down into smaller tasks, perhaps even as small as two minutes.
If you’re unsure whether to capture something, try to determine whether it’s an open loop: Have you thought about this action before? How likely is it that you’re going to think about it again? Does it require any work on my part?
Two-minute tasks that arise out of this activity can be acted on immediately and give you much momentum to take on that big task that you’ve been procrastinating on.