Beat Procrastination with the 2-Minute Rule

Procrastination is rarely about laziness. It's about starting. Once you're in motion, momentum carries you. The 2-minute rule is the cheat code for getting into motion.

The rule

If a task feels overwhelming, commit to just two minutes of it.

Two minutes is too small to dread. Open the doc. Write one sentence. Read one page. Almost every time, those two minutes turn into twenty — because starting was the only real barrier.

Why a timer makes it work

Saying "two minutes" and meaning it are different things. A running timer makes the commitment real and visible. You're not promising to finish — you're promising to begin, and the clock holds you to it.

Stack it into a full session

Here's the trick: once those two minutes pull you in, you're already focused — so let the pomodoro keep running. The 2-minute rule gets you over the start line; the 25-minute block carries you the rest of the way.

Make starting frictionless

The fewer steps between "I should" and "I'm working," the better. One click to start, no setup, no account required to try.