The One-Minute Rule: Get More Things Done
Who said being productive, or getting more things done, had to steal a large chunk of your time? A lot of the tasks we choose to push off to the side are ones that truly don’t take too much time to complete. In fact, in my own experience of becoming more efficient, I realized many tasks I chose to push off in the past were ones that took one minute or less.
Productivity isn’t just doing long and challenging tasks efficiently; it’s also doing the small tasks quickly and in real-time. You know what I’m talking about. Like taking the trash out, making your bed, starting a load of laundry, emptying the dishwasher, the life functions you can’t avoid.
However, as masters of procrastination, we choose to come up with excuses of why we shouldn’t complete these tasks the first time we realize they need to be done. I’m here to rewire the way you think about quick tasks to help you clear your mind of small nuances so you can focus on the stuff that matters.
What Is the One-minute Rule?
I introduce to you the one-minute rule. The one-minute rule is simple: If something takes one minute or less, do it.
Don’t come up with some sorry excuse, don’t push it off until next week, don’t avoid it because your laziness owns your life. Stop, take one minute out of your 1440 minute day, and complete the task.
A few years ago, I was looking for an easy way to train my brain to become more productive and efficient. I chose to start small. How did I do that? I put a post-it note on my desk that said, “If something takes less than one minute, do it.” I looked at this reminder every day, and it slowly trained my brain to complete tasks as I recognized they needed to be completed. Not only that, but it even helped me become more productive with larger tasks in my life, too.
Why Should You Want to Complete Quick Tasks?
While one-minute tasks might not seem like a lot to push off to the side, the more you push off, the higher they stack up. Soon enough, that one-minute task you decided to save for later is hanging out with 30 other one-minute tasks. Now you’ve gifted yourself with 31 minutes worth of small tasks that are stealing your precious time you could be using in a more valuable way.
And if you’re someone who has a demanding life or job, you sure as hell know you need to focus those 31 minutes on something different.
Not only will it save you from having a stack of small tasks to complete, but it also will help declutter your mind. In my own experience, I find that when I have a load of small tasks to complete, I feel overwhelmed and easily forget to do the larger more impactful tasks.
However, when I use the one-minute rule, it lets me have a clear mindset to focus on areas of my life that deserve and require more time and effort, like my self-growth or writing my new book, You Deserve This Sh!t.
Wait, There’s One More Benefit of the One-minute Rule
The one-minute rule doesn’t just help you complete one-minute tasks. It does much more than that, especially if you’re looking to introduce productivity in other areas of your life.
The one-minute rule will help train your brain to complete more things; it will shift you into becoming a doer. You’ll begin to develop a habit of efficiency that will slowly bleed into all areas of your life, letting you become someone who gets shit done.
Tips to Master the One-minute Rule
- Write a reminder where you’ll see it every day, like your desk or bathroom mirror.
- Don’t think of an excuse, just act.
- Remind yourself it’s better to do the one-minute task now rather than 30 of them later.
- Understand that completing the one-minute task now will open your time up for more important tasks later.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is this: Your life doesn’t have to be filled with tons of small incomplete tasks that steal your energy, as long as you just complete them as they come up. Focusing on and using the one-minute rule will help you become more productive and efficient. It will not only train you to complete the small tasks, but it will help build a habit of becoming more efficient with larger tasks.