The Magic Rule to Eliminate Procrastination: “Just 2 Minutes?”

Are you staring at your smartphone on the couch with a mountain of things to do? You promise, “I’ll do it later,” but that ‘later’ seems like it will never come. This isn’t because of a lack of will. It's because our brains feel resistance to ‘change’ and ‘starting’.

What if there was a way to break down this huge resistance in just 2 minutes? Today, I'll introduce the simplest but most powerful productivity tool that will change your life,‘The 2-Minute Rule’.

What is ‘The 2-Minute Rule’?

‘The 2-Minute Rule’ is a concept introduced by author James Clear in his book 『Atomic Habits』, and it's very simple.

When starting a new habit, start with something you can finish in 2 minutes.

The key is not a ‘perfect goal,’ but an ‘easy start.’ We often set ambitious goals like ‘exercise for 1 hour every day’ or ‘read 50 pages of a book a day.’ But these goals overwhelm us before we even start. The brain immediately resists, saying, “That's too hard!”

The 2-Minute Rule cleverly avoids this resistance. It changes the goal to a very small, ridiculously easy version.

• ‘Exercise for 1 hour every day’ → ‘Put on workout clothes’ (possible in 2 minutes)
• ‘Read 50 pages of a book’ → ‘Read one page of a book’ (possible in 2 minutes)
• ‘Clean the entire room’ → ‘Wipe the dust off the desk’ (possible in 2 minutes)

Why does this simple rule work?

The power of the 2-Minute Rule lies in the ‘inertia of starting.’ Just as it takes the greatest force to move an object at rest in physics, our actions also become much easier to continue once we start.

Few people lie back on the couch after changing into workout clothes. Once you're in your workout clothes, you might think, “Since I'm already wearing them, should I stretch a little?” And as you stretch, you'll likely move on to, “Should I do just 10 squats?”

You've all experienced this at least once, reading just one page of a book and then getting engrossed in the interesting parts, reading 10 or 20 pages. The 2-Minute Rule is the most effective psychological trick to create the momentum of action by crossing the ‘threshold of beginning’.

Apply it to your life right now

If you read this and just think, “Oh, that’s good?” and move on, nothing will change. Right now, choose one ‘procrastination’ that bothers you and apply the 2-Minute Rule.

Work: Are you overwhelmed by the pile of emails? Try‘replying to just one email’.

Study: Is difficult major study overwhelming? Start with ‘taking out your notebook and pen and writing only the title’.

Health: You know meditation is good, but is it hard to practice? Try only ‘setting the timer to 1 minute and closing your eyes’.

Once you overcome the biggest hurdle of ‘starting,’ the process after that is much easier than you think. Two minutes is also too short a time to fail. Invest just 2 minutes without pressure. That small start will accumulate and change your day, and your life.