The Two Minute Rule - 24th June 2007
Reading Time 1 minute 41 seconds
For a Podcast of this thought please click here
We I've just been on holiday and on my return I had hundreds of emails sitting in my inbox
Sounds familiarly!
However this time thanks to a little
tip I heard from
Dave Allen author of
Getting Things Done:
I knew where to start
ts called “The Two Minute Rule”,
Its very simple, if you have an email or an action that takes less than two minutes,
Then its more efficient to do it right there and then.
Yes, It actually takes more time to put it on your to do list, file it, then recall it later, than if you'd just done it in the first place.
The same applies for verbal and meeting actions as well as emails
As an added bonus for emails if forces you to answer the question
"What am I going to do with this is new input, is it reference material, an action or rubbish?"
Yes it forces you to make the decision to file it, trash it, or action it.
Good to Great - Jim Collins 7 Habits - Stephen Covey Discover you Strengths - M Buckingham Richard Branson's Auto biography Brilliant Memory - Dominic O'Brien Think & Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill Freakonomics - Stephen Levitt Getting Things Done - David Allen The Machine That Changed the World Watching the English - Kate Fox
Archives
3 Blind Men & An Elephant
Someone Everyone Anyone
No-one
12 Questions to
High Performance
The Bee Can't Fly but No-one told the
bee
The Maverick Mindset of
Baseball
Three Men and a Boat
Stop
Two Cannibals & a Beautiful Girl
The Meaning of Life
What was your name again?
Two Frogs
Is Common Sense Possible
An Architects Vision
Does Edison Turn Your Light On
Other books and CDs I've mentioned can be found here
There are loads of great audio programs at Nightingale Conant's ,web site here,
IAmazingly I found that in my emails less than 5% incorporate actions that take me more than 2 minutes
But here the flip side if actions take more than two minutes, I don't do them straight away
Why?
Because if you extend the two minute rule, how do you know that time you spend now is the action with the highest priority, or could it be the next email?
With items that take more than two minutes I park them on my to do list and then when I have some discretionary time I go back and complete them in the right order of prioritisation.
If the two minute rule works as well for you as it does for me, then you’ll have more discretionary time where you can decide what your priorities are!
Make the most of your time so you can make the most of your life
Till next week
David G
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