Putting the "2-minute" Rule in Context
July 10, 2009 in Productivity
I received an e-mail a while back from a reader who has some trouble implementing the “2-minute” rule from Getting Things Done: “If a Next Action can be accomplished in 2 minutes or less, do it now.”
TS says:
What I haven’t read about is how to manage a job where most everything can be completed in two-minutes or is a fire that needs to be addressed right away (and where you still have big projects to tackle).
It seems to me that I can not sit down and work on certain projects except after a full day of work and being tired, because I do not have chunks of time to just sit and concentrate on the project until it becomes a fire which needs to be done tomorrow.
Set an appointment with yourself
In order to get your big projects done you need to do two things:
- Break up the big project into smaller, actionable tasks
- Set appointments in your Calendar to work on these Next Actions
I would recommend that you set these appointments for the beginning of your work period, after you have had time to assess the current status of your day. This way, if there are any fires that need to get put out you can do so, then start on your project’s Next Action while you are still fresh and ready to concentrate.
After your have finished that portion of the project, you can then address the multitude of 2-minute Next Actions that you have in front of you.
Please share your thoughts in the Comments.
