The 7 minute rule 

One of my more organized and disciplined buddies, same guy who created the awesome Atlanta Stacks newsletter, taught me about his 7 minute rule recently.

I was asking him how he gets so much done. What was his process for knocking stuff out and how does he hold himself accountable? I’m always fascinated to find out how people do this, because I need to be better at it (particularly with the book I’m writing.)

He explained to me that anytime he has something that he needs to do but isn’t feeling motivated to do it, he sets a timer and does it for 7 minutes. If at the end of 7 minutes he still isn’t feeling it, he stops and does something else with the satisfaction that he at least knocked out 7 minutes worth of the task. But what often happens, he said, is that he ends up getting into a groove and making significant progress.

I think this is a somewhat similar concept to what I mentioned in my recent Put on your running shoes post. Or, more to the point, why I named this blog, Begin the Begin. Sometimes just the act of starting is the biggest hurdle to get over.