The 10 Minute Rule
Sylvia V. Mills, Ph.D.
Everyone dislikes some aspect of the work they
have to do [saints and CEOs included].
You can avoid the disliked tasks in several ways:
- You can tell yourself on a daily basis: “I’ll do
it tomorrow,”
- Use denial as in, “I never said I’d do that.”
- Use forgetfulness, “I forgot all about it.”
Disliked tasks do not go away: you can protest
having to do them, forget them, procrastinate, curse the necessity
of doing them, ignore them, stuff them to the back of you desk or
your mind, put them out of sight.... they do not go away...
You can feel angry with yourself for putting off
the disliked tasks; feel irritated by the fact you know these tasks
are lurking in the background waiting for your attention; you can
tell yourself how bad, incompetent, lazy, stupid or ridiculous you
are.... they do not go away...
Take ten minutes and do as much as you can do in
that amount of time.
Schedule this time regularly either once
a day or more until a particular task is complete then start the
next task. Schedules that seem to work well are ten minutes before
you start your regular tasks; ten minutes before you leave for lunch
or, after you return from lunch; before you go home; or after every
trip to the bathroom or coffee machine and so on...
Remember: Even a mountain can be moved
one rock at a time.
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