Hello and welcome to the second day of the June 30 days writing challenge. If you want to know all the details about this specific challenge, have a look at the introductory post. In short, I will be posting every day a short tip, or technique, or opinion, something that you can call a "life hack". Feel free to join the challenge and post your own life hacks. I will do my best to upvote each day at full strength (about $3 at the current STEEM price) 3 posts tagged #challenge30days (leaving a link to your posts in the comments will also help).
If It's Under 2 Minutes, Then Just Do It Now
As you already know, I used to manage my own business for a few good years. I didn't have any specific training for that (and I think this kind of training is very hard to find, if possible at all) so I had to learn on the fly. There was a lot to take care about: from product to expenses, from human resources to growth. Time was scarce and, although my energy levels were quite high, I often ended the day completely depleted.
After 3-4 years into managing my own business, this fatigue took its toll, so I became interested in time management techniques and productivity frameworks. My interests coincided with the rise on the internet of a new productivity framework, called "Getting Thins Done", based on a book by David Allen.
I read the book and I was hooked instantly. I started to implement the framework and in a couple of weeks I became really obsessed with it. After a few more months, I realized I was spending more time managing what I have to do, than actually doing stuff, so I had to quit GTD and started my own productivity framework, called "Assess, Decide, Do". But more details about this framework in a future post.
Because when I got out of GTD, I didn't cut everything from it. Some of the things in the framework were actually valuable and I continued to use them. Among the things I still kept is the "2 minutes" rule.
Simply put, this rule means: "if something will take you less than 2 minutes", then do it now. For instance, you're working on something for a couple of hours, and you're really caught into it, then somebody calls you on the phone. You answer and in a few seconds you realize it's about some stuff you have to do (like validating a delivery, sending a confirmation email, or something like that). You just evaluate quickly if it's taking more than 2 minutes. Most often than not, these kinds of things are not taking more than 2 minutes. So, you hang up and you just do that thing. Then you get back to your stuff.
The same approach works for ideas. I used to keep an iPhone app for years just for jotting down blogging ideas. You can't control when an idea will pop up in your head. And, more often than not, writing down an idea won't take longer than 2 minutes. So, even if I had an idea while driving, I was just pulling over, firing up my iPhone app, writing down the thing and then move over. Almost always the entire process took less than 2 minutes.
But what if it will take more than 2 minutes? Well, then, and only then, you make a task entry in your todo list (if you have any) and schedule some time to solve that issue. I found out that my todo lists were filled with tasks that could be solved in less than 2 minutes, just clogging the space, giving me the impression that "I'm busy" and "I'm getting things done".
So, really curious to read about your life hack today. Leave a comment with a link to your post, if possible.
Previous Posts In The Challenge
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day One: Avoid Fighting With A Simple Visualization Technique
- Announcing The June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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