Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Ryan Usher, Web Application Systems Analyst III at Duquesne University and a MOR program participant. Ryan may be reached at [email protected].
I used to start every Monday in reactive mode. I’d open my laptop, see the flood of emails and meeting invites, and immediately get pulled into whatever screamed loudest for my attention. By Wednesday, I’d realize I hadn’t touched the strategic work I kept promising myself I’d prioritize. By Friday, I’d wonder where the week went.
Then I discovered James Clear’s two-minute rule from Atomic Habits, and I applied it to something I’d been avoiding for years: intentional calendaring.
The two-minute rule states that when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. It sounds almost too simple to matter, but that’s exactly why it works. I had been waiting for the perfect productivity system, the right planning framework, the ideal morning routine. Meanwhile, my weeks were slipping away from me.
I struggled with defensive calendaring.
The wake-up call came at my first MOR workshop, where we learned about defensive calendaring. The concept was introduced, but I still struggled to implement it. Blocking out chunks of time felt difficult. What if someone needed me? What if an urgent issue came up?
That’s when I turned to the two-minute rule.
I made a commitment: every Monday morning, before I open my email, I spend two minutes reviewing my calendar and identifying my top three tasks for the week. Not ten priorities. Not a comprehensive project plan. Just three things that, if completed, would make the week feel successful. Then, still within those two minutes, I’d glance at my calendar to see if I actually had time blocked to accomplish them.
Could two minutes of planning make any real difference?
Two minutes. That’s it. At first, it felt insufficient. But I stuck with it because two minutes was too short to talk myself out of. I couldn’t claim I didn’t have time. I couldn’t wait for the perfect moment. I just had to do it.
Then I added the second piece: a two-minute reflection on Thursday afternoon. Just two minutes to ask myself three questions: What did I accomplish this week? What did I learn? What do I want to carry into next week?
The most powerful part? These tiny bookends to my week – two minutes on Monday, two minutes on Thursday – created a container for everything in between. I wasn’t trying to overhaul my entire productivity system. I was just creating two moments of pause to remind me of what mattered. The defensive calendaring concept from our first MOR workshop finally stuck, not because I’d mastered some complex system, but because I’d made it simple enough to actually do.
Conclusion
I’ve stopped waiting for the perfect planning system or enough time to “really get organized.” I just take two minutes on Monday morning to look ahead and two minutes at week’s end to look back.
I don’t have perfect weeks now. But I have intentional ones. And that’s made all the difference. Defensive calendaring and reflection were habits I struggled to begin. What’s a habit you’d like to start (or bolster) that could benefit from the two-minute rule?
How are you doing on practicing the habits you need to be the leader you want to be?
Last week we asked if you pausing as a leader as much as you would like so that you can act more intentionally?
- 11% said always or almost always
- 25% said often
- 34% said sometimes
- 16% said rarely
- 13% said very rarely or never
Pausing can take many forms. This week’s idea of the two-minute habit is a way to consider how to begin new habits than can enable you to pause for greater intentionality.