There’s a straightforward life hack that I use to get stuff done and to determine how serious I am about accomplishing my goals. I call it the 10-minute rule. I implement this rule every time there’s something I want to do, but can never seem to “find the time” to get started. The rule is simple and comes in three steps.
The first step is fairly obvious and is the easiest, decide what it is you want to do at any given moment. This rule will be particularly helpful if you find yourself procrastinating on something you know you should be doing.
Step two, ask yourself this question “is this task important enough for me to spend 10 minutes on it right now?”. It’s essential that when asking yourself this question that you keep in mind, you don’t have to finish and you don’t have to make any significant progress. All you have to do is work for 10 minutes, 10 minutes out of one whole day.
Step three, if you cannot bring yourself to do work on the task for 10 minutes outside of any legitimate reason (working on the honor system), remove it from your list of things you want/need to do and pick something else to accomplish.
By applying this rule with this mindset, two amazing things will happen. First, you will see exactly what is a priority to you. This rule helps you answer the question; how important is something if you can’t spend 10 minutes working on it, the answer is not very. Second, applying this rule will help eliminate some of the possible excuses used to put off work to “later,” a time that does not exist.
Let’s take a look at some of the excuses and see how by applying the 10-minute rule seriously, we can better prioritize our goals and obtain a better understanding of what we need to do.
You have only two options: make progress or excuses, either you will find a way or find an excuse
Excuse #1 – Not enough time
You’re too busy and don’t have enough time to get something done. That is false; you ABSOLUTELY have 10 minutes that you could find in a given day to do something that you want to do. Very few people are that busy where they cannot find 10 minutes in a day to work towards a goal, especially if that goal was truly aligned with your values and something that would make your life better if you were to accomplish it. Let me prove it to you with a simple question. If someone offered you $1000 to find 10 minutes in your day to work towards your personal goals, would you be able to find it? I believe you would be able to find several hours let alone 10 minutes. In that situation, 10 minutes wouldn’t even be a challenge. So with that being the case, what are you waiting for? If it takes someone offering you $1000 to find 10 minutes in a day to work towards your “goals” then maybe those are not your real goals?
You don’t have to limit yourself to 10 minutes, it’s not set in stone. Depending on your circumstances you may want to use a longer time or something a little shorter than 10 minutes. While I find 10 minutes strikes a perfect balance of most things I want to do, the key is to make the time short enough that it would be a ridiculous prospect that you would not be able to work on your task for that amount of time
Excuse #2 – How much can you really get done in 10 minutes
The beauty of this rule is that completion is not the point. The biggest obstacle to accomplishing any goal is starting and taking that first step. That’s the BIGGEST obstacle you have when trying to be productive. Well, you can overcome that obstacle right now just by STARTING. Since you don’t have to commit to writing a masterpiece or producing the Mona Lisa in those 10 minutes, you will be freed from all that pressure of failure. Just sit down and do 10 minutes worth of work, we’ve already seen that you have the time.
Excuse #3 – ???
There is no third excuse. I say this because by this point most people are fishing for reasons to not work on what they say they want to do. I find it funny that we can always come up with excuses about why we can’t do anything. But it doesn’t mean those reasons are valid. There has rarely been a legitimate third reason why someone can’t work on their goals for 10-minutes right now. We’ve already established two facts; the first is that you have enough time, and the second is that starting is an essential step you can take towards completing your goals.
So if I’ve just solved two of the biggest reasons you’ve had for not starting and you’re still trying to come up with more…..what that should tell you is that you don’t really want to work on the “goals” you set for yourself. Whatever that “goal” is, it doesn’t motivate you and is not aligned with your values. Don’t feel sorry, we just need to be honest with ourselves and chose something we’re more invested in. Sometimes brutal honesty is the best medicine and the kick that our behind needs to get on the right track.
The benefits of applying this rule
What makes this rule so simple and beautiful are several things. The first is it’s not about willpower. Studies show willpower is a limited resource and we only have so much, so we want to save that for something else. Instead, it’s purely about being brutally honest with one’s self. Ask yourself, if I genuinely want to accomplish this goal, then can I take 10 minutes RIGHT NOW to work on it? Almost always the answer is yes, at which point it’s time to take action or re-calibrate and choose new goals if you can’t do it.
The second benefit, this rule does not care about the past or the future. It only cares about the present. So by just focusing on the present, you can use this rule every day. Accomplishing your goals requires continued effort. The first step to success is starting; the second step is persistence. By asking yourself that key question every day, the answer will always be the same. You will be forced daily to act or face the music. Applying this rule day in and day out, and being honest with yourself, that will help build the consistency you need to get stuff done.
The third benefit, this rule is flexible, it doesn’t have to be 10 minutes. Depending on the task it could easily be as low as 5 minutes, or as long as 30 minutes. It must be long enough to get some work done, but short enough that there is no excuse for not starting. The purpose is to have the time so low that it’s almost insulting to you that you wouldn’t be able to work on your goals for that amount of time. The key is to remove ALL barriers.
It sounds straightforward, and that’s because it is. If you are serious about accomplishing your goals, use this rule, and you will be one step closer to success. Share in the comments what goals you’ve been procrastinating on. What excuse have you been using? Use the 10-minute rule because what do you have to lose, 10-minutes?
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