Words Into Works #005 | The Two-Minute Rule

“Every day, there are a handful of moments that deliver an outsized impact,” writes James Clear in his bestselling book, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. 

Our decisions, or decisive moments, as Clear refers to them, are forks in the road, choices that propel you toward a productive day, or one fraught with feelings of frustration and disappointment. 

You can exercise at home, or read the news for the umpteenth time today. You can enroll in a course that will improve your resume, or call a friend to complain about how bad things are. 

While perceptibly insignificant, decisive moments continue to impact your behavior long after you’ve made them. They are, in essence, negative keystone habits. [1]  If you lay in bed instead of exercising, you’ll likely feel unproductive the rest of the morning and forgo getting things done. 

One wrong choice at the beginning of the day not only limits the options available later, but it also hinders your enthusiasm to choose the right one. And instead of chalking up small wins throughout your day, you create unnecessary friction that pulls you further off course from where you need to be.    

Image Source: Atomic Habits by James Clear

One way to capitalize on decisive moments is by taking advantage of what Clear calls the Two-Minute Rule, which states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” [2]

For instance, instead of reading before bed each night, read one page. Or, instead of doing thirty minutes of yoga, take out your yoga mat. [3]

The goal here isn’t to build a new habit. Rather, the goal is to master the art of showing up. If you can do that, then scaling up to the full habit becomes easier in the future.

Footnotes

[1] “Keystone habits” is a big idea from Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit.

[2] Clear gives credit to David Allen’s Two Minute Rule from Getting Things Done.

[3] Clear also cites BJ Fogg and his Tiny Habits method for shaping his thoughts on habit formation. I mention Fogg briefly in Words Into Works 3.