The Ten Minute Rule to Beat Procrastination
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“I know I need to do it, I just can’t get myself to do it.”
How often have you said these words to yourself?
Let me guess: A lot.
Well, good news, I have just the solution for you. A solution so good it will leave you feeling as cool as that pineapple with shades on.
And don’t feel bad about procrastinating—it’s something we all struggle with.
It’s something that is rooted in our biology and how the different parts of our brain work together.
In fact, procrastination is the outcome of a battle between our limbic system and our prefrontal cortex.
And since the former is much older and more developed, and it’s designed to keep us safe, we naturally procrastinate. Our brain tricks us into avoiding doing what we should be doing because it realizes that the given task breeds discomfort. That’s why we procrastinate.
With the Ten Minute Rule, we move the ball back to our side of the court and trick our brains into doing the work now instead of later.
We beat procrastination.
The 10-Minute Rule: How it Works
Getting started on a task is usually the hardest thing. So the 10-minute rule is a productivity strategy designed to help you do just that: Get started.
Here’s how it works:
Sit down and do the work for the next 10 minutes. You can set a timer if you want. Once the 10 minutes are up, you can then decide whether or not you will continue. Nine times out of ten, you will decide to keep going.
It’s as simple as that.
Honestly, this is the way I go about beating procrastination.
When I don’t feel like writing an article, I say to myself:
“I’m going to sit down and start writing for the next 10 minutes.”
Ninety percent of the time I get into a state of flow and continue typing away for the next hour.
Sometimes it doesn’t work, and that’s okay. I feel too much resistance so I stop and move the task to a later time in the day.
Why it Works
The Ten Minute Rule is designed to help you get started because it’s often the getting started that’s harder than the keep going.
And we tend to feel so much resistance to a task because we build it up into something greater than it is. And as mentioned earlier, it’s our limbic system perceiving the task as daunting, and so it protects us by pushing us away from it.
With the Ten Minute method, we reduce the magnitude of the task ahead of us.
Instead of an hour, we commit to 10 minutes.
We make it super easy to start, and since the commitment is low, it doesn’t hurt to give a try and see how we feel afterward.
The idea is this:
You don’t need to read an entire chapter, you just need to sit down for the next 10 minutes and read a few pages. When the time is up, nine times out of ten you’ll continue to finish the entire chapter.
You don’t need to write an entire article, you just need to sit down for the next 10 minutes and write a few lines. When the time is up, nine times out of ten you’ll continue to finish the entire article.
You don’t need to run 5K, you just need to strap on your shoes and jog for the next 10 minutes. When the time is up, nine times out of ten you’ll continue to finish the entire 5K run.
As we get started and enter a state of flow, we move away from resistance and keep going until we finish.
So here’s why it works:
It puts you in motion. It’s usually harder to start than to keep going. With this rule, you break the barrier and get into motion. Once you’re in motion, chances are that you will continue spinning the wheels.
It focuses on the output, not the outcome. It shifts the attention away from what you want to achieve to what you can do and control. Read a few pages, write a few lines, jog for a few minutes.
It magnifies the simplicity of a task. We build the illusion in our mids that the task is too big and too inconvenient, so we procrastinate. With this rule, we reduce the task to a series of small actions. We magnify the simplicity of the task and trick our brains into thinking “it’s not too difficult after all.”
So the next time you struggle with procrastination before you say “I know I need to do it, I just can’t get myself to do it,” pause and tell yourself this instead:
“I’ll do this task for 10 minutes. Once I hit the mark, I’ll decide whether or not to continue.”
Chances are you’ll feel good, the dopamine circuit will hit, and you’ll naturally keep going way past the 10-minute mark. You’ll feel as cool as that pineapple with shapes.