How many tasks are on your to-do list right now?
How many things do you hope to accomplish by the end of this week?
I'm going to assume that your to-do list is probably quite long and quite lengthy regardless if you keep it on paper, in a to-do list app, or even if your to-do list is right up here in your mind.
Well, today I want to give you a tip on how you can shorten the length of your to-do list, and it's by doing more things in the moment.
It's called the 2-minute rule.
The 2-minute rule is developed by David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, and here's how it works:
As you go about your day and you have new ideas, new tasks come to mind, ask yourself this question: Will that task take me less than 2 minutes to complete?
If you answer yes, do that task immediately. Get it over with. Accomplish it. Send that quick email. Make that very quick phone call. Whatever it is, do it right now.
Why?
The reason is that you'll be more efficient by doing that very short task in the moment than writing it down in your to-do list, adding it as one more thing to do in the future.
Even if you've captured it, even if you've written it down, chances are it's still going to weigh on your mind, and you may start to dread looking at your to-do list.
So if you are certain that that new task that pops into your mind will take less than 2 minutes, do it immediately.
The two-minute rule is very simple.
