Mental Focus and the Two Minute Rule
By Russell Hunter

One of the biggest challenges I hear repeatedly from our clients in the Fall is maintaining focus in the midst of multiple projects, priorities and endless distractions.

In previous articles I've beat up on dangers of multi-tasking, but this month wanted to focus on one element that might give any of you closet mutlitaskers with a lifeline. Although switching between tasks has a performance cost, it is important to realize when to act on the distraction, and when to simply acknowledge it and refocus.

The Two Minute Rule is a guideline many of our clients have found helpful. It can not only help with distractions, but also keep your lists free of small, but important tasks. The rule is this: If an action takes less than two minutes, do it now, even if it's a low-priority item.

Business consultant Dean Acheson is credited with originating the idea, but it was later picked up by David Allen popularized in the bestselling book, "Getting Things Done". Acheson advised his clients to deal with distractions and long task lists quickly by having them ask one simple question in the moment, "Is it a short action?" If the answer was yes, the rule was to do it immediately rather than write it down for later review or action. Acheson later came to realize that "short" was overly subjective, so he changed the framing question to, "Can this be done in less than two minutes?"

Here's how it can work practically. Lets say you're busy working on a presentation for an upcoming meeting, and suddenly you begin thinking about researching a new performance management system. So you ask yourself, "Can this be done in less than two minutes?" No. Rather than switch tasks, just capture the thought on a project list you keep nearby and handle it later. The time and attention it would take away from finishing the presentation would make it counterproductive to do in that moment.

But here's the key - you don't want to just toss the thought aside. It needs to be captured or the non-conscious past of your brain will continue pestering you with it until it is acknowledged.

Why does this work for most people?

At two minutes or less, it would take longer to write an action down, review it later, and check it off than it would be to just do it in the first place. But there's another big advantage to applying the Two Minute Rule. By consciously asking yourself, "Will this take more than two minutes?", you're less likely to become engrossed to relatively short actions aren't short enough to prevent becoming digressions.

Is that "quick lookup" on Google really a two minute action? Reading the article might take a few more minutes than expected. It might be more strategic to look up the article, print it, put it in a Read/Review folder, and read it when you have more time and attention to devote. The Two Minute Rule is a guard against chronic or serial digression.

Take email for example. It's critical do decide whether or not a message can be answered or addressed in two minutes or less. Email accumulates too quickly to simply gaze at each message without making a decision about it. Decide now if an email can be trashed, archived, addressed or answered in two minutes. If not, immediately identify the outcome and next action required, and place them on your project/next actions list.

But... won't this make me constantly focused on putting out fires? One concern managers often have about the Two Minute Rule is that they risk spending all day on small items, never getting to the larger, more important ones. Well, consider this:

1. First, ask yourself is: Does this need to be done it all? If the answer is yes, then ask yourself again, "Does it REALLY need to get done?" If so, the only alternatives are to do it now, or write it down for doing later. The more items you see on your list, the more likely you are to resist looking at the list, even if half the items on it could be done in 30 minutes combined.
   
   
2. Second, the number of items that actually take less than two minutes is much smaller in reality than it is intellectually when you apply the rule for each action as it comes up. The whole idea of spending "all day" doing two minute actions is based on assumption, not putting the rule into practice.
   
   
3. Third, just because an action is short doesn't make it unimportant. Not taking one minute to approve a purchase order can hold up a very large project. It's not uncommon for sizable project to get held up for hours or days simply because someone shoved the paperwork involved to one side, and didn't look to see that all that was required on it was a signature. I once took over a job processing orders in 10 minutes that the previous employee kept piled for an average of four days.

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GOAL THIS MONTH:
Try applying the two minute rule to how you handle your email this month. And if you're really feeling up for a challenge, try applying it for a whole day and see what the impact is. You might want to consider putting a POST-IT note or some other visual reminder on your desk, phone, etc. - to remind yourself to ask the Two Minute question when you're caught up in the moment.

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