The 1-Minute Rule to Reduce Stress

🎧 👉 Prefer audio? You can also listen to me share about this in podcast episode #047 here.

I learned about Gretchen Rubin’s “one-minute rule” recently, and saw immediate benefits from applying it to my life. This simple rule will absolutely help you reduce stress and overwhelm! Here it is:

Do any task that takes one minute to do, as soon as you realize it needs to be done.

Here’s why this is a stress reducer.

When we have a bunch of unfinished tasks that we’re aware of, our brain holds onto them because they are open loops that need to be closed. One way to close the loop is to schedule the task, so your brain will know you have made a plan to finish it and then your brain can stop constantly reminding you about it.

But how often have you had a simple one-minute task that wasn’t something you’d schedule to do later, and yet also wasn’t something you took care of when you initially thought of it, so then the thought kept coming back and nagging at you over and over and over? If you counted up the amount of time you thought about it before doing it; I’m guessing that you’d find that you thought about it for way more than the one minute it took you to actually do it. And then, if you add up all the different little one-minute tasks that are nagging at you, it’s no wonder you may feel overwhelmed and stressed.

I want you to try this rule out because I’ve seen it really work wonders. Practice doing anything that will take you one minute or less—as soon as you think of doing it. As soon as you realize it needs to be done, seriously, DO IT! Send the text. Get the mail. Put the appointment reminder into your calendar. File or scan, or shred the paper. Put the dish straight into the dishwasher. Whatever all those little tasks are that show up in your life. Try doing them right away.

When you catch a nagging thought like ‘Oh, I need to do _____,’ then respond with the question, ‘Can I do it in 1 minute?’ and if the answer is ‘Yes,’ then do it right away.

Make it a game to get things checked off your mental list before they really even have a chance to officially land on the list. The more consistent you are with this, the more you do it, and the more little things you take care of quickly, the better you’re going to feel. Give it a try, and let me know how it goes.

I am willing to bet you are someone who wishes you had more time for yourself to do the things you REALLY want to do. Well, in addition to this tip today about the 1-minute rule, I have something special for you. I have a brand-new free video training where I share the secrets of how you can go from busy to balanced, all while rewarding yourself with peace of mind, less anxiety, and more YOU time. You can go grab that free training now here. 

“Stop waiting for the perfect time. The perfect time is now.” 

– Unknown

🎧 👉 Prefer audio? You can also listen to me share about this in podcast episode #047 here.