Do you ever feel like you’re never quite productive enough? You could be doing things perfectly, but it just doesn’t seem to add up to the equivalent of a productive day.
Productivity is a skill that can be learned and there is a new rule for productivity that can stop procrastinating and skyrocket your ability to become more productive.
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3 Minutes Rule of Productivity
The 3 Minutes Rule of Productivity is the time management system created by Antony C. for the current fast-paced environment to increase your ability to focus and get more things done over a short period of time while reducing the mental burdens of your subconscious mind.
“Being productive is not about working hard, but it is the ability to prioritize your task at hand.”
Antony C.
Structured in the way how our mind works consciously and subconsciously. The 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity is a simple rule that allows us to get things done fast and effectively.
How effective?
Get approx. 3-10 times more things done than any of your peers at work.
Interested? Let’s read on…
What Do The 3-Minutes Rule Say?
“If a task can be done in 3-Minutes or less, no matter the importance, complete it now.”
By Antony C., Founder of hqhire.com
3-Minutes Rule of Productivity is a Time Management System created by Antony C. to tackle the overwhelming number of small and big tasks we have to do as working professionals.
Many professionals are often overwhelmed by the number of tasks they have to complete.
Even when we are not actively thinking about the tasks we have to complete, part of our subconscious mind will keep working to remind us about the unfinished task.
Open-loop (Zeigarnik Effect) in our mind crippled our sense to focus and decrease our productivity.
Why Does The 3-Minute Rule of Productivity Work?
The 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity works based on the understanding of the Zeigarnik Effect and the ability of the mind to subconsciously prioritize tasks to be completed.
Zeigarnik Effect (open loop), is the tendency that our mind tends to remember and focus on the incomplete task than the task that is completed.
The rule tells us to complete any task that can be completed within 3 minutes, this closes open loops in the mind, allowing for greater focus and productivity.
As an additional benefit of following this rule, it helps us to fight against procrastination, and reduce our mental stress.
Detrimental Impact on Productivity Due to Open-Loop
Have you ever experienced a time when you are completing an important write-up, but your eyes keep looking at that document that you should have passed to the HR department down the hallway of the office?
The thought of having things undone will linger in your mind during the whole process of you trying to complete your write-up.
Furthermore, even after an hour of working, you will still have that pile of documents lying around to be completed.
Not only you are not able to concentrate on the important task at hand, but your wandering mind will also cause you to make more typo-logical mistakes and hinders your progress.
This is a typical day of work for most working professionals.
Not only, you will feel demotivated that you have not completed anything after an hour of work. Many are unable to focus on the work they are desperately trying to complete.
If your subconscious mind keep wondering, you will not be able to focus. Open loop in mind will affect your quality of work as well as your productivity at work.
3-Minutes Rule of Productivity in Action
What if you adopt the 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity and complete any task that can be completed within 3-Minutes, for the previous example?
As passing the document is a simple task that takes less than 3 minutes, you will simply, pass that document to your HR department before starting your work. This simple action takes one task off your subconscious mind so that you can focus on your work.
Getting more productive with the 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity
If you have 5 of these ‘small’ tasks to be completed for the day, you can simply finish all these 5 ‘small’ tasks before you start your main work. This allows you to have more mental capacity to focus on your work, and not have your mind wandering off due to the different distractions that can be eliminated.
Below is a simple table of how many tasks you can complete in just 30 minutes.
| No. of Small Task Completed | Time Required (Minutes) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 18 |
| 7 | 21 |
| 8 | 24 |
| 9 | 27 |
| 10 | 30 |
With just 30 minutes, you’ll be able to put 10 small tasks off your mind and close the open loop.
By simply following the 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity, you are able to concentrate on your work without your subconscious mind wandering around.
Not only the quality of your work is better because you are much more focused, but you also complete more things in a day.
Why Should We Always Complete a Task that Task Less Than 3 Minutes?
“Why is it a 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity, not 5-Minutes Rule, 2-Minute Rule or 1-Minute?”
By Readers
The answer is simple.
If longer than 3 minutes…
Any task that goes above 3 minutes feels like it will take a long time. They will feel that the ‘small’ task takes too much effort, and much too long to complete.
Thus, instead of completing the ‘small’ task first, they will avoid doing it totally.
If shorter than 1 minute…
The 3-Minute Rule allows you to complete any small task you can complete within 3 minutes, which includes tasks that can be completed in 1 minute (60 seconds).
If it is a 1-Minute Rule, that is just so few items that you can complete within 1-Minute, which makes the rule quite useless.
Why 3-Minutes?
3 minutes stands for 180 seconds, and with 180 seconds, 90% of the task that is considered small can be completed without disrupting your workflow.
Throughout history, the number 3 always have a unique significance. The ancient Greek philosopher, Pythagoras consider 3 as the perfect number, the noblest of all numbers. 3 is the number that represents time;
- Past, present, and future.
- Birth, life, and death.
- Beginning, middle, and end.
Although we are not talking about philosophy, 3 minutes represent the time required for you to complete most of your small tasks, which helps you improve your productivity.
3-Minutes Rule of Productivity And Your Mind
3 Minutes is the perfect length of time because it consists of most task that is simple to complete but big enough to keep you distracted if left undone.
3 Minutes is the perfect amount of time that can balance the maximum number of tasks completed over a short period of time and a person’s ability to focus on the main task even after completion of the ‘small’ task.
How Using The 3-Minute Rule of Productivity Can Change Your Life?
In an hour, there are 60 minutes. If you are using the 3-Minute Rules of Productivity complete all the small stuff first. Theoretically, you are able to get 20 items off your to-do list in just an hour.
3-Minutes Rule of Productivity allow you to get more task off you mind fast, so that you can concentrate on that one important item.
We believe this simple productivity rule can help you to improve your productivity, lower mental stress, and make you more successful in both your personal and professional life.
How the 3 Minutes Rule of Productivity Can Help You In The Real World
“If the task at hand can be done in 3-Minutes or less , no matter the priority, complete it first.’
Antony C.
The 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity will help you keep your sanity in this fast-paced world.
By following this simple rule, you may find yourself not only completing the long list of tasks in your mind, but you may find yourself having less stress and better mental health.
You can be working in your office, or work from home, the 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity will help you get more things done in a shorter time.
Our Challenge: Practice the 3-Minutes Rule of Productivity today and tell us in the comments how your life changed in a week’s time.
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