How to reduce the size of your to-do list and get more done

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed with the number of tasks you have on your to-do list. If you have ever sat down to do a brain dump of all your to-do's and found yourself looking for a new notebook or running out of ink! I came across a simple trick that unlocks your ability to be productive and tick countless tasks off your list!

The two-minute rule

Tasks that take less than two minutes to do (especially tasks you don't want to do or have been avoiding) just do them, it’s only two minutes of your day and could save you weeks or months of guilt and stress over having not done them!

This rule is outlined in David Allen's book Getting Things Done: the art of stress-free productivity.

I put this trick to the test and it made every difference! I went around my house the other day writing down everything I could possibly think of onto a giant to-do list. As I was going into each room I would write things down like:

• Buy curtains for kids sleep room
• Organise bookshelves
• Take things to donate
• Put paint supplies away

Then I realised that some of the tasks took almost as much time to write them down, as it would to actually do the task… So, I changed my process. I started to write down everything that I wanted to get done, unless the task took less than two minutes to do, then I would stop the list and do the task right there and then.

I put away my paint supplies, cleaned my hiking boots, put away tools back into the garage, cleared off my desk, wiped down the laundry sink, put the washing away.... and the list goes on.

I got so many small tasks done but made sure not to get distracted by big tasks in the process. If something was gonna take me longer than two minutes to do, I would add it to the list for another day.

I highly recommend this process! Regardless of whether you are writing a to-do list or not. Throughout daily life, if there is a task that is going to take you a few minutes to do, just do it!