[meredith.knauer]

I have a few different things that I employ:

1. 2 minute rule – If it takes less than 2 minutes, and I have 2 minute now, I have to do the thing now. This works great for emails that take a simple reply, sorting mail, checking accounts, etc.
2. Use wait time – Half of the reason why I don’t want to do stuff like the dishes is because I feel like it takes forever. So, I use time where I would otherwise be standing around to do these tasks. Waiting on the microwave for 1.5 minutes? It’s a great time to start putting away dishes. Waiting for my coffee to brew? Time to wipe down the stove.
3. Body doubling – This has already been mentioned, but boy howdy does it help. I recently introduced a student to Focusmate, and she actually uses it! (yay!)
4. Do the tiniest step possible – Have to respond to an email? Open it. Read it. Make bullet points for what I need to respond to or what info I need to gather. Sometimes I stop there, but now I know what I need, and a good chunk of the time, not knowing is what prevents me from doing it.
5. Set a timer – Do this for the least amount of time you’re willing to do the thing. Put in 5 minutes of tidying up your space and once the timer goes off, you have permission to stop. You’ve done your due diligence for the day. Half of the time, I still have it in me to keep going, though, and so I do.

These are all super helpful when I’m either procrastinating or I feel like the task is too big (or I hate it enough that time warps to make it feel like it’s taking 100 years when in reality it takes 10 minutes).

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