Bored with wading by the two-minute behavior swamp? Us, too.
Make your mattress. Take 3 deep breaths. Categorical gratitude. Drink a glass of water. Visualize your objectives. Stand erect. Chant “I’m the s***” affirmations. Use a bodily alarm clock.
Not dangerous recommendation — however rehashed to demise.
I’m responsible of contributing a drop or two to this cesspool as nicely — however this listing is a gust of recent air.
I’ve compiled 8 little-known productiveness techniques backed by science — and honed over time.
Not like most two-minute habits, these are confirmed to save lots of time and improve your productiveness manifold.
Listed here are straightforward 2-minute habits to save lots of 20 hours per week — not less than:
1. Ivy Lee’s 100-year-old methodology
Elite productiveness coach Ivy Lee has saved prime CEOs and entrepreneurs 1000s of hours.
His core methodology is deceptively easy:
- Earlier than going to mattress, jot down your 6 prime To-dos for the following day.
- Kind them in keeping with significance.
- The subsequent day, focus solely on the primary activity — till it’s finished, don’t contact the opposite duties.
- Transfer on to the following activity and proceed similarly.
- Switch left-over duties to the following day’s listing.
- Rinse and repeat.
Ivy Lee’s methodology marries ruthless prioritization and a singular disciplined focus.
2. Prioritize duties with “The Eisenhower Matrix”
The shortage of prioritization is the mom of all productiveness issues.
Be it for the Ivy Lee methodology or your individual customized prioritization, leverage the Eisenhower matrix.
- Draw a 2X2 matrix with “Significance” on the Y-Axis and “Urgency” on the X-axis.
- Drag and drop your duties on the idea of their significance and urgency into the matrix.
- Hyper-zone in on the high-high duties.
- Ignore, delegate, or schedule the remainder.
You possibly can leverage the Eisenhower matrix to make higher selections and selections as nicely.
3. Sync your work together with your “ultradian rhythms”
Ultradian rhythms are pure cycles in our physique that happen each 90–120 minutes. They embrace intervals of excessive productiveness and vitality, adopted by relaxation and restoration.
“Forty-hour workweeks are a relic of the Industrial Age. Data employees perform like athletes — prepare, and dash, then relaxation and reassess.”
— Naval Ravikant
To optimize your productiveness, sandwich 90–120 minute work blocks with 10–20 minute breaks to recharge.
Leverage the blocks when you really feel essentially the most energetic to assault your day’s scariest duties.
For most individuals, this tends to be very first thing within the morning.
4. Stop time waste with “serial timeboxing”
I stole this game-changer behavior from my buddy and fellow author Akshad Singi, MD.
Deciding the day’s duties and caging them inside inflexible time blocks murders the primary time-killer — “evaluation paralysis.”
Once you don’t alternate wall head-banging with Omegle prank movies, you progress quick.
Whereas I’m removed from according to timeboxing, it’s confirmed highly effective in the few days I’ve used it.
5. The “Pomodoro Method” with a twist
Until you get excessive on circulate states, an Ultradian work type may really feel torturous.
Quite go for Pomodoro’s faster cadence.
However as an alternative of utilizing a boring timer, combine a playlist of songs that add as much as 25 minutes. When the music stops, take a 5-minute break.
You possibly can even use Pomodoros inside ultradian classes.
As an alternative of fixating on work-rest durations, concentrate on the ratio.
6. The 2-minute journaling methodology
Journaling is so highly effective that Enchancment Tablet ranked it #1 in his behavior tier listing.
However wistfully blotting web page after web page is an unimaginable luxurious in at this time’s chokingly busy lives.
Therefore bullet journaling — unsexy however fast, easy, and environment friendly.
“Bullet journaling is among the many excellent methods that can assist you monitor the previous, arrange the current, and plan for the longer term.”
— Ryder Carrol
I’ve optimized my journaling template a lot that it takes lower than 2 minutes!
7. Keep according to “The Seinfeld Technique”
Prioritizing, jotting down To-dos, and ticking them off handles the every day degree.
What about weekly, month-to-month, and yearly?
Poor consistency will nullify even the toughest burst of depth.
The legendary comic Jerry Seinfeld has a intelligent answer:
- Set a purpose to finish a specific activity every single day.
- The times you efficiently full the duty, mark them off on a calendar with an X.
- Hold this chain of X’s in sight and keep away from breaking it.
The longer the chain grows, the simpler it will get to maintain going — the streak itself turns into the reward.
8. Bucket your duties with “The Two-Record” methodology
Take two minutes every morning to separate your To-Do listing into two lists:
- The Necessities — these have to be accomplished at any price
- The Ready — can wait till the necessities are tackled
Even should you fail to tick off the Ready objects, ending the Necessities will really feel like a win.
A pleasant psychological enhancement to the Ivy Lee methodology.
9. Kill procrastination with “The 5-Second Rule”
We, people, face extra beginning hassle than essentially the most worn-down Fiat pickup.
We’ll binge TikTok, refresh our sinking crypto holdings, and stalk our exs’ Instagram — fairly than begin the 1 activity we want to do.
The answer is sudden motion — depend “5-4-3-2-1” mentally or out loud and begin.
Don’t give your mind the possibility or time to barter you again into procrastination. As Mel Robbins says, “In case you get the intuition to work on a purpose, you will need to bodily transfer within 5 seconds. In any other case, your mind will kill it.”
As soon as the engines get roaring, it’s easy cruising.
What’s rad is that these micro-habits seamlessly combine with one another:
- Write down six duties utilizing the Ivy Lee methodology.
- Use the Eisenhower matrix to separate them 50–50 into the Two Lists.
- Time-block the important ToDos all through the day, profiting from Ultradian rhythms.
- Inside every time block, use music-fueled Pomodoro classes.
- And as procrastination threatens to strike, 5–4–3–2–1 motion.
Lastly, use the Seinfeld technique to continue to grow the chain of consistency.
Not like “fast fixes,” habits produce lasting results — however in return, they demand consistency over months, years, and many years.
Be affected person — hold ticking off these Xs.
Which of those 9 habits did you want essentially the most? Another science-backed strategies I’ve missed?
I’d like to know.
Neeramitra Reddy is a author and editor of In Health And In Well being, Wholistique, and MANXIMIZE.
This text was initially revealed at Medium. Reprinted with permission from the writer.
