We have so much things to do. But when are you going to do it? Everyone has 24 hours in his day, but everyone decides on themselves how they want to use their limited hours.
Why would you start your homework or going to work out? The reason we postpone is because there are so much fun things to do. The more difficult question is how can we stop postponing. We know it’s worth it to finish our tasks, but why would we do it right now if we can do it later? Your true growth starts to happen when you are able to get on with difficult activites early on.
To fight fear, act. To increase fear – wait, put off postpone. – Michael D. Higgins
When you put off something difficult to do it only becomes more difficult and you start to fear for what has not happened. To solve the problem that has not arisen yet, try to start to avoid fear. This can be achieved by implementing the 2-minute rule. With this rule you start any task you have to do immediately, that is for 2 minutes at a time. Then you are allowed to either stop or continue untill it finishes. This way you remain with freedom of choice on whether or not you stick with it or quit.
The hardest thing is starting, once you started you are so much more likely to either complete the task at hand or complete a very big part of it. Let’s take for example writing a thesis. Before you write it you need to do research. But it doesn’t only require research. A very important part is starting to write as soon as you are capable. Otherwise you will postpone this part, which in the end will be the thing that will earn you your pass or fail.
When you abide by the 2-minute rule you can also apply this into a social setting. A lot of situations require someone to step up to the challenge. For example when a client enters your company you can go ahead and greet them and help them as is needed. The rule doesn’t apply in it’s entirety in social settings, you will not be able to quit at any point in time anymore.