I Tried the “2 Minute Rule” to Declutter, and Now I’ll Keep Using It
Nothing gets my morning off on the right foot quite as quickly as walking into a messy kitchen as soon as I wake up. Since I know this morning mess bothers me so much, I’ve included “closing the kitchen” — a process that involves cleaning everything up after dinner, clearing the counters, and leaving my kitchen sink empty and freshly scrubbed each night before I head to bed — to my evening routine. But, since I’m often one of the first people in my family of five to go to bed, things aren’t always as I leave them when I wake up.
And it’s not just that, either. Running the dishwasher and emptying the sink each night means every morning there’s a mountain of clean dishes to be put away, something that I find overwhelming first thing in the morning when my main focus is to use these quiet hours to get a jump start on my workday before everything else on my to-do list threatens to pull my attention away.
So, as you can imagine, when I heard about the “Two-Minute Rule,” coined by David Allen in Getting Things Done, which essentially means that if an action takes less than 120 seconds (two minutes), then it should be done now, I knew I had to try it. Take a look at how I squeezed this new practice into my morning routine, using it to knock out a task that bothers me almost every day.
How I Tried the “Two-Minute Rule”
When I first heard this idea my initial thought was, “When am I going to find the time to do this?!” I know some people will laugh at that because it’s just two minutes, but working parents everywhere likely know my struggle, and even coming up with an extra two minutes can seem like a daunting task. That’s why I decided to tackle this challenge during the two minutes I use for another task every morning: making coffee.
Typically I use this time to doomscroll, but since I’m trying to cut down on nonessential screen time I decided to use those two minutes to jump-start my day. So, this morning I loaded up my coffee grounds and set my trusty Ninja to brew while I ticked off the seconds in my head, decluttering the area around my kitchen sink as it went.
During that time, I returned my daughter’s collection of books from her backpack to the bookshelf, I took the stack of mail and paperwork that was meant for my office to the steps so I could carry it up with me when I went up to work with my coffee, and I emptied the bag of newly purchased cuties into the fruit bowl where they belonged. With those tasks done (which took me all of 60 seconds), I was able to put away the majority of the dishes, leaving out the cups I knew my kids would reach for in a few hours when they came down to pack their schoolbags.
Did I get everything done and leave my kitchen in the pristine state I wish I could’ve woken up to that morning? No. But, did I make the most out of 120 seconds I would’ve otherwise wasted (and then felt guilty about)? Yes!
After I fixed my coffee on the (clean!) countertop and headed up to my office to start the day, I thought about the two-minute rule and how it embodies the concept of “progress over perfection,” helping me get a little further into that daily to-do list without getting completely overwhelmed.
Sure, I’ll never be able to get my house sparkling clean or fold an entire load of laundry in just 120 seconds, but I can tackle a small task in those two minutes. And what are the messes around our home if not a bunch of small tasks just waiting for us to find the time to get to them?
Further Reading
I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture
