Stop Procrastinating with the 2 Minute Rule

By Warren Wong

The 2 Minute Rule has been endorsed by life hackers and performance junkies for many years. The concept is simple: if it takes less than 2 minutes to complete, do it right this second.

This rule has proven incredibly helpful to stop procrastinating and getting things done.

Like many of you, I have bad days where I feel lazy and unproductive.

How can I use the 2 Minute Rule?

You can use the 2 minute rule in every aspect of your life. It can be used to establish new habits, whittle down your to-do list, or start on your bucket list. The possibilities are endless. Here’s how you do it.

Step 1

Firstly, take out a piece of paper and write down a couple of habits you want to incorporate into your daily life or ones you’ve been trying to make stick. Examples can be, exercising regularly, reading more, meditating, etc.

Step 2

Next, simplify the task/goal at hand. I will use reading more in this example. When most people think of the task, it can be daunting at first.

Many thoughts come to mind: you think you need to sit down for 30 minutes and read, you have a big list of recommended books or just life happens.

Rather than writing down, climb Mount Everest, let’s start with climbing the stairs in our apartment first. You get the point.

What has immensely helped me is to focus on micro goals. Rather than say, I will read one book a week or even 30 minutes a day, I leave it at read 1 page a day. Sounds easy enough right? It is, and that’s exactly why it works.

Once you have an easy micro goal written down, you’re done. Now, go do it! It should take 2 minutes or less.

Tricking our brains

By making it a more attainable goal, we not only achieve it, but we go above and beyond what we originally intended.

By removing the pressure of having to read one book per week and making it just 1 page a day, you are more inclined to start reading.

Make goals that only require the bare minimum to get started. Sometimes the toughest part is to get started.

Sometimes I actually only read one page, but more often than not I end up reading 10, 15, even 50 pages a day. It’s a victory as long as I read 1 page a day and when I read more than that, it’s a cherry on top.

Incremental improvements

This can be applied to not only establishing the habit of reading, but anything you want. The key is to make incremental improvements.

warrens home library bookshelf — Incremental progress leads to a big victory over time. Part of my home collection. Check out my current reads on the “reading list” tab.

Recently, I applied this rule to meditating. I won’t beleaguer the health and spiritual benefits, but suffice to say, I had a rough time getting it to stick.

Rather than setting the daunting goal of 15 minutes of sitting in silence, I told myself that I will just attempt 2 minutes.

Guess what? I almost always accomplish my goal, and end up meditating for 10 to 15 minutes. Whether I achieved nirvana is a different story.

As the neurotic self improvement nerd that I am, I’ve set some pretty lofty goals. I am constantly visiting and revisiting my personal, career, and spiritual goals.

Not to say that I’ve been unsuccessful at achieving them, but I put a lot of pressure on myself in the process.

By applying the 2 minute rule through micro goals, I have been able to achieve more of what I set out to do.

Some of the habits that I have been able to incorporate in my life using the 2 minute rule are: meditating, gym, eating healthy, travel, investing, reading, more time with family.

On the flip side, things that I struggle with: writing daily, watching less Netflix, less time on social media, and the list goes on and on.