I'll Finish This Blog Post Later...

Procrastination. We all know of it in some form or the other. You have a 25,000 word essay that is due next week and you tell yourself that "I got tomorrow," until tomorrow becomes 2 hours till deadline.

We, as humans, are born with this innate nature to be lazy. Yes, we are all lazy bunch of human beings. At the end of the day, the only way for us to move our butts to actually do work is when we have a deadline that is near (hopefully not 2 hours before the due date) or some sort of goal that inspires us.

As an Engineering student and a son that takes up a number of responsibilities at home, I find that procrastination always gets me at the right (wrong) time. How do I get rid of this procrastination that I am always facing? I've found several methods online, but I find that not all methods suit me. For this post, I'll be sharing one main method that helped me procrastinate less, and that is the "2 minute rule".

As humans, our drive in our lives are the big goals that we planned for ourselves. Be it to pursue an enriching career, to study for an exam or to earn your first million dollars in your bank. However, when we start thinking of the big picture, we end up feeling very puny. And I mean, very very puny. As we face this big goal of ours, we become afraid and discouraged to move forwrad, as if the goal is too big for us to control. At that point, most of us would give up, and end up doing something else that seem manageable.

This 2-minute rule is what keeps me motivated to do, and it is explained well by James Clear in his blog here. We all like to do things in a short time, right? We want things now, not later. We want results now, not later. With this mindset, it is hard to get big things done in an instant, and we will always end up procrastinating.

To keep it simple, think of it this way: If it takes me 2 minutes to get up, and start writing at least a sentence on my 25,000 word essay, I'll do it now. The amazing thing that will happen after you start writing at least a sentence within that 2 minutes is that you will want to continue to write. This is the same when you start something big. As Sir Isaac Newton taught us a long time ago, objects at rest tend to stay at rest and objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Once you start doing something, you would want to continue to do it.

Below are some examples that get me started working, and hopefully you readers can use those examples to start your objectives:

I want to start on my homework, but I have 20 over questions to do. It takes me 2 minutes to open my book, and read at least question 1 and start on it. You'll often end up doing more than 1 or 2 questions on your homework.

I want to start on my research project, but I need at least 10 valid sources for my research. It takes me 2 minutes to open the library website and type in keywords for my research. You'll often find sources to read and start noting them down.

I want to start writing a blog post on procrastination, but it is going to be super long. It takes me 2 minutes to type at least a short paragraph. You'll often find yourself typing more than 1 paragraph.

I want to be healthy, but I have to eat more fruits than chocolate and candies. It takes me 2 minutes to take an apple and eat a bite. You'll often find yourself eating the whole apple before you want one more.

The beauty of this 2 minute rule is that it also works if you wish to start a new habit too. If it takes you 2 minutes to start on that objective, do it now. You will most certainly find yourself continuing to finish the objective. The keyword here is to "start," and start from something small that brings you toward your big goal.

I hope this blog post helps to all readers out there, because the 2 minute rule certainly did help me!

Do you have something that you have or want to do that takes less than 2 minutes to start? Do it now.

As how James Clear ends his post beautifully,

"Anyone can spare the next 120 seconds. Use this time to get one thing done. Go."

#procrastination #lifestyle