Just Do It, Explained
“If an action will take less than two minutes, it should be done at the moment it’s defined.” David Allen
No, I will not be talking about Nike, but its motto. Every time I get back from holiday it’s like starting from a blank page with my routines and activities. I take it as a gift. It is why I put pressure on those first few days back. It’s important to get the machine going in a favourable way. On the first day back, I cleaned my living space, unpacked everything and set up my calendar until the next holidays. This kind of setup is what works best for me.
Now back to Nike’s motto. Just do it. It sounds simple but it tends to be rather difficult to follow. When it comes to chores it is so easy to put them off for a while. They are small annoying tasks, but just like positive habits, they compound. The dishes in the sink start to pile up, there’s a layer of dust in certain areas of the house or the homework starts to overflow. James Clear illustrates this very well in his article where he compares getting better by one per cent every day and getting worse by one per cent every day.
Most of these tasks take so little time when done separately but once compounded it can become overwhelming fast. That is why there are a bunch of rules to act on those small tasks.
There’s something I would call the 5-minute rule (my variation of David Allen's 2-minute rule). This rule states that any task that takes under 5 minutes should be done at the very instant it arises. Doing it right away leaves no time to procrastinate.
If you still have time to procrastinate on it I suggest using a 5-second countdown (Mel Robbins wrote a book about it). Just counting down from 5 has worked for me with doing the dishes and even cold showers. The concept is simple — you count down from 5 (or 3 whichever is more natural for you) and then do the task.
On a similar note, I have used music and the chorus/the drop of a song for motivation. For example, if I happen to play music when in the shower then I would turn the shower to cold on the chorus/the drop.
For some reason your brain does not have the time to compute the laziness in this scenario. Or even if it does the countdown itself is a catalyst. Once you’ve started the dumb countdown it seems even dumber not to go through with the task.
Lastly, there's another 2-minute rule, which I use for studying. It is the idea that you will sit down and do the task for 2 minutes. It is important to know that motivation does not precede but is indeed the product of action. These two minutes might be enough to stimulate your mind enough to find motivation.
These three tips can help you trick your own mind into doing stuff! Give them a try sometime! They have worked wonders for me when I lack motivation.
This Week's Suggestions:
This song was introduced to me by one of my French volleyball teammates. It is a simple yet very effective rock song. The chorus gets me going every time! This would easily classify as my happy music!
📷 Two 2-minute Rules to Beat Procrastination (in 2 minutes):
This is a great summary of the two 2-minute rules I spoke about in two minutes!
That is it for today!
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