Get started with 2-minute rule
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Advice like this frames procrastination as laziness that can be overcome by committing to less work, but that's misleading. If this helps you stop procrastinating I think it's much more likely that you're simply overwhelmed with choices.
Try listing out the things you want to do, and for each of those things list out just the first step, even if it's more than 2 minutes long. No more than that, don't start writing down instructions for yourself, just stick to "what do I do next here?"
You might find out that your problem isn't laziness, it's unharnessed motivation that's just pulling you in too many directions at once.
It clearly about "Task Initiation" which is a problem related to "Executive Function". None of the related authors would ever frame it as being about "Laziness". That's like... the last thing Dave Allen would do.
Also "identifying the next action" (which is what you're suggesting) is also very much a Dave Allen technique. Dave Allen adds the 2-minute rule on top of that -- if it's 2 minutes or less, don't bother tracking it, just do it straight away... that way you won't pay the cost of tracking a whole extra item in your task management system.
In my reading, this paragraph in particular is where it sounds like a solution for laziness more than a solution for "identifying the next action":
> The idea is to make it super easy to get started. Once you pass the starting point, which is arguably the hardest step, you start to gain momentum to keep doing the task itself
I think you and I agree about the benefits of this approach, all I'm saying is that I don't want people to dismiss this advice because they think it's targeted at "lazy people".
Also the two minute rule you describe appears to be different than the two minute rule as described in the article.
The article describes taking long and/or involved tasks and inventing an artificially limited 2 minute version of them that you can begin more easily.
That's very twisted along the way, and does not seem like Dave Allen's original idea. It seems like a conflation of two very different ideas of his that are meant to solve different problems.
I never said Dave Allen's idea was contentious. I never criticized 'Getting Things Done'. I highlighted a facet of the article that I believed people could easily misread and therefore reject as not applicable to their image of themselves.
Please read my posts without the assumption that I am criticizing Dave Allen or his work.
> I never said Dave Allen's idea was contentious
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you had. I meant, the idea that "the 2 minute rule" is effectively a Dave Allen trademark, is not contentious.
Sorry if I seem antagonistic, totally not my intention. I'm in Queensland sitting underneath a large storm at the moment. I do think we're on the same page re effective executive function techniques themselves. ;)
Also - that life hack article - he’s published that same stuff many many times before. It’s basically an extract from his book. He republishes it every where. And it works, he takes ownership of the idea in people’s minds.
Internia is why it's hard to start working and easy to continue once started.
What this seems to do is remove inertia stemming from being overwhelmed with options by clarifying what actually needs to be done.
I also see that effort it takes to get started on a thing as similar to "excitation energy" in chemistry -- that discrete amount of energy, below which, the system will not change, and above which, bam! it all happens!
By understanding the "next action" you're lowering the "excitation energy" requirement. But that's not a great metaphor to use with the general public. This is why James Clear writes the books, and I just writes the comments.
"What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated,
Begin it, and the work will be completed!"
- GoetheThank you for this quote!
I would never think to do that and on mobile have accidentally hit it while trying to do other things and been thoroughly confused how I got there or what led me there. It seems like it would be reasonable to make each of its function into a specific link above each comment. I don't think it would make the UI too much more cluttered, personally.
OK, rant over.
Hip-shot hypothesis: The productivity literature audience is overwhelmingly intelligent people with untreated ADD & ADHD.
I'd add anxiety (GAD or things like that) to the list.
I disagree, it's possible to find hacks to change your own behavior and even how your body works, these hacks can then turn into habits and long-lasting behavior.
I see your point.
Then again, one of the problems for some of those are that they start way too many thing.
Also, all the coping mechanisms you've built up over the years can easily mask the problem. We used to ask people "Can you dress yourself?" to assess if they have manual dexterity issues. The problem is, almost everyone says "Yes". The people with the dexterity issues simply wear loose clothing and never buy anything with buttons. They probably haven't even thought about it for years, it's just their normal.
Mental issues can be similar. I've you've got through to adulthood you likely have a huge range of tricks, some of which you don't even think about anymore, to help get you through the day.
what’s the smallest possible thing I can do to move this in the right direction?
And somehow, thinking about the thing in those terms helps me go “OK well I’ve been putting off this bug that was reported because it touches a system I don’t understand well, BUT let’s start by just reproducing the bug.”
And at any point, really, you can either stop, or find the smallest possible thing that moves the task in the right direction.
She was a patent translator, and when she did not feel like working, she drew a line on the patent where she felt like she would want to stop.
But never once did she ever actually stop at the line, she would always go past it, as the motivation would come while working.
[0] (Non affiliated link) https://www.amazon.com.br/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/d...
EDIT: just realized that the jamesclear.com link that the article links to is the book's author, lol.
What Maurer does, however, is explain the biological reasons this works. When we are stressed/anxious/afraid, the part of the brain called the amygdala activates our "fight or flight" response. So, when we try to take 'big' steps, we activate the amygdala and...give up, run away, avoid. But (extremely) small steps "sneak" past the amygdala without activating the fight or flight response.
For example, in the book "One Small Step," the author tells the story of a client he told to stand on her treadmill every day.
She was not to even turn it on. Only to stand on it. After a week of that, then she could turn it on. Bit by bit, she built the habit.
Both are fantastic ideas. I recommend going to the source to learn about these, the book "Getting Things Done" and the many writings specific to that system. It is very influential, so much so, that many of the things influenced by it no longer realisz their ideas have come from Dave Allen. It just seems like a universal idea that everyone knows with no particular source, like the Cerulean of the sweater in "The Devil Wears Prada", it came from somewhere.
All the others could be done in the day, except for the vegetable one which is too abstract. And their solution could be done in 2 minutes. The coding one on the other hand... impossible to do in a day and also writing code is imo almost impossible to write in small chunks of time. Brainstorming a feature,thinking about a problem for 2 minutes, deleting/cleaning code, or even just opening your IDE and checking where you're at and planning the next step, sure. But actual coding, would not recommend. I require at least 30m+, preferably 60m+ to get anything reasonable done.
Patterns like these were helpful to getting there:
- “do the simplest thing that could possibly work”
- yagni
- shorten the code-compile-test loop
- don’t put up with slow tools
And others made it super super efficient.
The reason I'm nitpicking this example is because I've found it helps substantially to know that even if I only do 2 minutes of the thing, I'm making progress. Otherwise it's very hard to trick my brain into doing the thing. I don't like the "wear running shoes" example either. I have found that when I plan habits like that I maybe do them once or twice, then never again. There is no reward for me without the progress and in the case of the coding example would only bring me frustration.
And there were many bus trips where I would not get a seat until the very end of the ride, and still manage to get work done. A single burst of work was frustrating, but you'd make the most of it. Honestly - it was a transformative experience. I completely agree with you here:
> it helps substantially to know that even if I only do 2 minutes of the thing, I'm making progress.
...and that was the trick for me. Transforming it from "in 2 minutes I won't even get the IDE loaded" to a situation where "in 2 minutes I'll make small but genuine progress, progress that I can bank. A tiny but solid win." And seeing that happen over and over is what got my brain into a place where I would be kind of "proud" instead of "frustrated".
With this topic in general, when you say:
> I don't like the "wear running shoes" example either
...I think maybe you'd need to go back to the real source of this stuff, which is not the linked article, and not James Clear, but Fogg. Also the book 'the power of habit' by Duhigg is quite in depth.
Because if you only read the 1-minute pop-psychology versions it's very easy to pick holes in it and it looks quite superficial, I get that. They present it as just little "hacks" and how can you get a deep trust in it, if it's just gimmicky little hacks?
Anyway, best wishes.
I've actually read both Fogg (dry and repetitive but more precise) and Clear (more engaging but more fuzzy/muddled concepts) although not Duhigg. Like I said I agree/use the method. I'm not picking holes just pointing out potentially bad examples. Also most people will not read the books. They'll read the 5 minute versions like these. They should have the absolute clearest/best examples.
2 Minute Rule
https://jamesclear.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating
GTD
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done
Tiny Habits
I don’t think James does enough to credit Fogg. I mean Atomic Habits — based on Tiny Habits... and the name “two minute rule” lifted and shifted from GTD. He’s a good writer and deserves his success on that basis, but I get a bad impression from these few examples I know of.
For things like work projects, this is a good approach for me: Sometimes I find myself putting off beginning something because it's a big project and I don't have it all figured out yet. But once I catch myself in that cycle, I start on the preliminary work, get into a groove, and (unlike the pushups) things get easier as I go.
That said, I did just interrupt a (relatively small) project to come here and see what's going on today.
Finding it har to start up writing that article because you can’t quite find an angle or conjoint up motivation? Just write a really bad version first. That gets you going and builds momentum, and then only on your second version try to improve quality.
The equivalent of “I’m going to put my running shoes on and walk around the block”. It puts you in the situation without worrying about performance.
On the other hand, sometimes the "small step" backfires on me, psychologically: I eat the apple as the small step to eating healthier. Then, later in the day, I feel good about myself for eating healthier and decide to have a few cookies as a reward.
A two minute push-up would be fuckin brutal.
I think the biggest benefit has been applying it to meditation. I've been told by several teachers that the process of entering meditation is what you initially want to practice the most, because the rest of your practice relies on being able to do that.
I set different "reminders" for myself to meditate. In the beginning I used "being annoyed" and "waiting for something" as two "triggers" for me to begin meditating immediately, and do it for at least 10 breaths.
I found that getting changed into running gear immediately I got home from work or got up really helped when I started running. Even if I went running perhaps 1/3 of the time.
Of course, if it's something I want to do but know I shouldn't, like eat a snack or watch TV for "just a couple minutes", then it works fine!
He adds in the idea of environment triggers (e.g. you go pee) and doing the smallest part of the habit that you can cope immediately after the trigger (e.g. do one pushup).
I say about it in a short post here https://bobbydreamer.com/39-running