The "5 Minute Action" Method is the Easiest Strategy to Get You Motivated to Do Anything

I couldn't wait for summer so I could take advantage of longer days.  In my mind, longer days would provide the opportunity to fit in everything I wanted and needed to do within 24 hours.  Unfortunately, this hasn't been case.  I often find myself wishing I completed a few more items off my list. 

Most of what needs to get done falls into two categories.  The tasks that come with little/no resistance and the ones that I have a mental struggle in getting done.  Honestly, getting over the resistance is half the battle.   Most of the time, the task itself isn't that bad.

How many times have you forced yourself to do something only to realize that it wasn't as dreadful as your mind pictured it would be?

If getting started on a task is something you struggle with, I have a super-easy solution for you.
Newton's Law of Motion tells us that an object at rest stays at rest while an object in motion will remain so.   

This principle of physics holds the key to conditioning yourself into getting things done like never before.

Throughout the day, our mind will remind us of a task or activity that needs to get done.  Sometimes we do it, other times we find a way to put it off.  If you often chose the second option, you're avoiding the task because of some type of resistance.  Resistance is kinda like a bouncer at the door that prevents you from entering.  When met with even the slightest amount of resistance, we often fold right away.  But what if, instead of immediately giving up, we implemented a foolproof strategy to boost our productivity within minutes.

The reason why we put things off is 'cause we loath the thought of engaging in some long, arduous activity that we won't enjoy.   We can dismantle this limiting belief about the task by simply agreeing to do it for five minutes.

That's it.

The absolute hardest part doing of any neglected task is starting.  It requires soooo much mental energy. Heck, most of the time nothing gets done without a strong eternal motivator (i.e. avoiding a negative consequence).   We often think about how long and taxing the work will be and give up on it altogether.  But, if we limited the work to only 5 minutes.  It doesn't seem as bad.

Let's say you wanna organize your closet. The thought of pulling everything out and spending hours on the project seems like torture. But working on your closet for 5 minutes doesn't really seem that bad, does it?

The thing about 5 minutes as that it goes by pretty quickly.  Especially once you get past the first minute or so.  Because 5 minutes isn't really that much time, you might try to convince yourself that it isn't even worth doing.  I'm here to tell you the truth about the value of 5 minutes.  It's long enough to allow you to make a solid impact on any item on your to-do list.  You can get a lot done in 5-minute chunks as long as you're not multitasking.  I've often used small chunks of time as a way to develop my habit of staying focused. 

Another great thing about the 5 Minute Action Strategy is that you often find yourself wanting to continue beyond the first 5 minutes.  Once you're in a state of flow, you can choose to keep going to start again the next day.  These 5-minute time blocks are great for things that you tend to put off that have no consequence if avoided. Examples include exercise, meditation, decluttering, writing, cleaning, any type of creative work, personal projects, etc.

If even five minutes seems like too much, start with 2 or 3 minutes.  Just give yourself a small enough time block that allows you to lower your resistance.   Once the resistance is removed, there's no telling how much you can do and will do.