The 10 minute procrastination rule

Many people that exercise consistently have a simple trick that they employ — they make it easy for their future selves to start exercising.

For example, if you want to run tomorrow morning, the “right now” you is probably more excited than the “5am” you will be in the morning. If you can help yourself ahead of time, by doing things like laying out your clothes and shoes, you’re more likely to go through with it in the morning.

With most people, exercising is easy (and maybe even fun) once they’re doing it, but getting started is the key.

You can use a similar trick to stay on task with your work. If you want to take a break and just waste some time to relax, great — just wait 10 minutes first.

In his book “ Indistractable “, author Nir Eyal puts it this way:

“If I find myself wanting to check my phone as a pacification device when I can’t think of anything better to do, I tell myself it’s fine to give in, but not right now. I have to wait just ten minutes.”

Just like after the first two minutes on the treadmill where you start to feel good, if you wait 10 minutes and keep working you might find yourself back in the groove and knocking out a lot of stuff.

On the other hand, if 10 minutes goes by and you’re still drained, then that’s likely a sign that a break would indeed be a good idea.

The next time temptation comes along to get you play with your phone for a little while, take 10 minutes first and then see what happens.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on October 12, 2022.