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Tools

Two-minute start

For the task you keep moving to tomorrow. You don't have to do it. You only have to begin, in a way small enough that there is nothing to dread.

1. The task you are putting off
2. What kind of task is it?
3. When will you start?

Tie it to something that happens anyway.

Nothing you type here is sent to us or kept.

Your first steps appear here

Type the task and pick its kind.

Why it helps

People mostly put a task off because of how it feels, not because they can't manage time. A step that takes two minutes carries almost none of that feeling, and once you have begun, going on is easier than starting was. A plan in the form "when X happens, I will do Y" takes the decision out of the moment; across many studies, plans like that made people noticeably more likely to act.

The research, and what it does not show, is in Why you put things off, and the two-minute start that gets you moving. If your problem is the date, not the start, read Deadlines you set yourself.

The steps here are fixed suggestions for each kind of task, written by us. They are a way in, not advice about your particular job.