two 2 minute rules to boost productivity
if it takes less than two minutes, do it at that very instant you read that clearly. any task that takes under two minutes, as soon as it pops up in your head, you do it that instant. once you wake up and look at your bed and think "oh i should make my bed," or "oh I'll make my bed after I drink a cup of water," absolutely not. you make your bed at that exact moment without doing anything else. making your bed takes less than 2 minutes, so you must do it. if you walk past the kitchen and remember "i need to take out the trash later" no way, babes. you are taking the trash out right now, because it takes no longer than a minute. if you drop something or misplace something, you do not say you'll fix it later. you do it right NOW because it takes you less than 10 seconds. these small 2-minute tasks are the roots of our problems. because they take so little time to complete, we just reassure ourselves by saying "ah, I'll do it later!" but these small tasks start to build up and we find ourselves in a mess - whether it be a literal or emotional one. so do those small 2 minute tasks as soon as they pop up in your mind and do your future self a favour. 2. if you're trying to build a habit, do it for 2 minutes only at a time. let's say you're trying to get into the habit of studying a particular subject, say... chemistry, everyday for 2 hours. if you've never done this before, it's obviously going to be extremely difficult. 2 hours is a long time - it's like trying to bench 50kg on your first day at the gym! you can't expect yourself to be able to do it all so suddenly either. additionally, for most people, it may be too difficult to even start because it almost seems impossible. so, what you can do instead is this: on day 1, sit down at your desk at your desired time - maybe in the evening. get your materials prepared and have a timer ready. make sure it is set to 2 minutes. hit the timer and just study. for 2 minutes only. don't try to go over time, even if you basically learn nothing in those 2 minutes. do this for a couple of days, everyday, at the same time. at 6pm, sit yourself down at your desk, open your chemistry textbook, hit the timer and just study (or even sit) for 2 minutes then get up and do something else. after doing this for a couple of days, you'll eventually get into the habit of sitting down to study. you are building the foundation for the habit. that's how this all works, you need to take it slow. after a couple of days, start adding more time. if you think you'll need more time, start by adding an extra 2 minutes perhaps everyday. this time, you'll have to sit and study for 4 minutes everyday. then 6 the next day. if you think you've kind of got it, maybe add 5 minutes everyday. build up from the 2 minutes and you'll eventually have a habit.