The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. The point is to master the habit of showing up. People often think it’s weird to get hyped about reading one page or meditating for one minute or making one sales call. That’s how you follow the Two-Minute Rule. Your goal might be to run a marathon, but your gateway habit is to put on your running shoes. And putting on your running shoes is very easy. Walking ten thousand steps is moderately difficult. You can usually figure out the gateway habits that will lead to your desired outcome by mapping out your goals on a scale from “very easy” to “very hard.” For instance, running a marathon is very hard. What you want is a “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path. The actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two minutes should be easy. A new habit should not feel like a challenge. And, as we have just discussed, this is a powerful strategy because once you’ve started doing the right thing, it is much easier to continue doing it. Anyone can meditate for one minute, read one page, or put one item of clothing away. The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start.

“Run three miles” becomes “Tie my running shoes.”.

“Fold the laundry” becomes “Fold one pair of socks.”.

“Study for class” becomes “Open my notes.”.

“Do thirty minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat.”.

“Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page.”.

You’ll find that nearly any habit can be scaled down into a two-minute version: The Two-Minute Rule 1 states “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” How to Stop Procrastinating With the “2-Minute Rule” The best part? It's a simple strategy that couldn’t be easier to use. I want to share it with you today so that you can try it out and see how it works in your life. Recently, I’ve been following a simple rule that is helping me stop procrastinating and making it easier for me to stick to good habits at the same time. This article is an excerpt from Atomic Habits, my New York Times bestselling book.

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