How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Things Done
I recently discovered a productivity hack that trains your brain how to stop procrastinating and get things done instead.
You can use it to boost your productivity and overcome procrastination almost instantly. It’s also one of the best productivity systems you can add to your arsenal.
The best part?
It’s such a simple strategy that anyone can start applying it right now and stop procrastination immediately.
And it works for both your professional and personal life.
Table of Contents
I Can’t Stop Procrastinating, Please Help!
The deadline is hours away.
You should be making progress in meaningful work for the project.
But between the excessive “preparation”, re-reading emails, checking social media, the coffee breaks, and doing other tasks (that are only due next week), you just didn’t have the time to work on it. You knew you should be working, but it was a problem for future you.
Now your boss is breathing down your neck, pressuring you to complete the project. You silently curse yourself for not starting it sooner.
Sound familiar?
Everyone knows procrastination all too well. We squander away our time and put off important tasks we should be doing until it’s too late. It’s a chronic cycle: slacking, hiding from work, doing non-important tasks, putting off. And then the loop repeats.
But why do we procrastinate?
Maybe you are a perfectionist. You keep telling yourself you need the latest equipment, be in the best mood or the sun needs to be shining from the east. You aren’t familiar with learned minimalism.
Or you are avoiding the task because you are not organized and prioritize low-value work (here’s an effective to-do list method you can use).
Overcoming Procrastination, Getting Started
It’s called the “2-Minute Rule”.
Did you know that 9 out of 10 people never finish their daily to-do lists because they include a lot of mundane tasks?
That‘s where the 2-minute rules comes into play: it helps you get rid of a ton of unimportant things from your to-do list so you can focus your time on finishing the most important ones.
Remember: you can use this hack in your personal and professional life.
There are two parts to the 2-minute rule.
Part 1: If it can be done in two minutes, just do it.
If a task takes less than two minutes of your time, do it right away. Don’t add it to your to-do list. Don’t put it aside for later. And don’t delegate it to someone else. Just do it.
The time that it takes you to write it down/add it to your to-do manager and the clutter that adds to your mind is not worth it.
Here are some examples of tasks you can do in two minutes or less:
- Answer an email from your boss/coworker
- Come up with a few blog ideas
- Send an update to a colleague
- Make a plan for the day while having your morning coffee
- Taking out the trash
- Loading the dishwasher right after the meal
There are a ton of tiny, seemingly trivial tasks that take less than two minutes yet you need to do EVERY DAY.
Part 2: If it takes more than two minutes, start it.
Once you take an action on any 2-minute task, you will feel better equipped to work on even bigger tasks because of the sense of momentum you’ve built.
For example:
- Want to write a thousand words every day? Write 50 words in the next two minutes.
- Want to meditate for 20 minutes a day? Sit down and meditate for two minutes.
- Want to exercise for one hour a day? Do jumping jacks for just two minutes.
Once you start acting on small tasks, you can keep the ball rolling.
For example:
Let’s say you’re writing an important report. That’s a hard task to complete in just two minutes. However, you can break the task down into shorter goals, such as:
- Collect the materials you need
- Do the research
- Write the introduction
- Write the other parts, one by one
- Edit
- Ask for feedback
- Final improvements
- Submitting the report
Simply working on it for two minutes will help you break the first barrier of procrastination. For me, 9 out of 10 times, it leads to working on the task for far longer than 2 minutes (I then continue working using the Pomodoro productivity hack).
Incorporate this simple hack into your life and start developing a habit.
It will make you stop procrastinating and start getting things done instead.
