Use the Two-Minute Rule to Stop Procrastinating

Even when overwhelmed by looming tasks, there’s an easy way to knock out several of them to gain momentum. It’s called the “two-minute rule” and it can help you be more productive in school, work, and at home.

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 takes 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 your work type 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 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. Using the two-minute rule helps keep such a dinky little task from hanging over my head all day. It might seem like work in a given moment, but it helps prevent bigger projects later.