We train our clients to understand that for each new input you receive (anything that makes you think "I need/might want to do something about that"), it’s best to decide sooner rather than later whether you’re going to take any action as a result, and if so what that action is. Then park a reminder to do that action somewhere you’ll see it the next time you could do it. Straightforward and effective.

But. There’s a specific circumstance in which that’s not the most productive way to go. A lot of our clients find this little sub-clause can give them a huge additional productivity boost. And that’s the kind of thing we like around here.

So, what’s the big idea?

We call it the two-minute rule. It states: if you decide on a next action which you can do where you are at the time in two minutes or less, do it now.

Right now? Right now. Even if it’s not the most important thing you could be doing? Even if it’s not the most important thing you could be doing. Because it’d take you longer to write it down, review it against all your other next actions and tick it off than it would just to act now*. Plus if somebody is waiting for a short but important response from you, this way they get it sooner rather than later.

Now it might not sound revolutionary. Perhaps it even seems obvious. But by systematically applying the two-minute rule you really can work smarter and faster. Part of the reason is that, while two minutes is a trivial amount of time, it’s probably long enough to do more than you think – that’s what we find when we’re coaching people. You can bash out a two or three-paragraph email. You can use the staff directory to find out the name of the relevant person for an issue. You can look something up online. And then you can move on to something else.

Don’t worry too much about sticking to precisely two minutes. If you doubt whether you can really complete a next action in two minutes, use your watch or the clock in the bottom right of your PC’s screen (double-click it to see the second hand) to time it and see how long it does take. We keep some two-minute egg timers to show clients just how long two minutes is, but before long you’ll get good at guessing what you can and can’t do without any sand-based help. And remember it’s not a precise science, so even if an action winds up taking you slightly longer it was probably still worth getting it done there and then.

We thrive on completion, and after knocking down a few two-minute actions you’ll feel that you’re really motoring. But sometimes I hear people say things like "if I spend all my time doing these little two-minute actions, I’ll never do any of the big stuff". Well, if it’s an action that doesn’t definitely need doing, that you’d otherwise leave sitting around for a while before deciding not to do it, don’t do it because of the two-minute rule. In fact don’t tell yourself to do it in the first place. Just decide now not to do it at all.

That aside, even the "big stuff" always comes down to next actions, some of which will probably be two-minute actions. Even the biggest, hairiest, most strategic outcomes we might contemplate. World peace. Once you’ve defined what you’re going to do about it, that’s still going to shake out to next actions like "Email Mike re requesting lunch with UN Secretary General to discuss world peace". Could you send that email in two minutes or less?

Integrate the two-minute rule into your way of working to move forward faster with less friction.

* The time you spend deciding what the next action is does not count towards your two minutes for doing. You need to decide that anyway, and we generally recommend doing so the first time you handle an input.