10 Simple 2-Minute Habits That Will Dramatically Save Your Time
In times when everyone is rich with information, resources, and aesthetics —time is more valuable then ever. People are becoming multi-milionaires by using YOUR time, your attention. It’s time you become the main character and focus the stage-lights on yourself.
Resources are flooding into our lives. Where everyone is a slave to instant-gratification, the one who fights his vices and control time is the king.
Time is the super-power only few people use.
Are you ready to get back time that goes wasted in your life? Are you ready to do some 2-minute magic tricks everyday and change your lifestyle?
Let's dive in!
Burst the addictive Reels bubble
Let’s start out simple. Social media apps.
Our brain cannot comprehend time. Time just flies by scrolling reels. If you have any social media app installed in your phone, you’re likely to be spending an average of 20 hours per week.
It’s a lot of time wasted.
Social media has evolved from friends to influencers. Nothing really registers in our brains while watching reels. It’s the worst way addiction that not only destroys our productivity but also our brains.
That’s what I call a double-sworded injury!
Take a minute to write down your password, and delete the app. Swoosh. It’s gone. Put as much distance as possible. Maybe you need to be active on apps? Get used to logging in through a browser (like chrome). You are an influencer? Set extreme time-limits of certain apps.
This is a huge time saving tip. Don’t let short-form content damage your brain, body and integrity.
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“I am good at changing & improving my mind because _______”
Dash? Fill in the blank.
Let me tell something mind-blowing.
Are you scared of darkness? Do you think you can never learn coding? Are you bad at math? Can you ever become a vegan? Will the sadness in life ever go away?
The science of “brain” — neuroplasticity, has answers to all these questions. We never really believed our brains.
Neuroplasticity is a concept that says, your mind, your abilities, your talents, your habits, can all be changed. They are not set in stone. The people who truly understand this are the new-age “intellectual”. Why? Because they believe in how powerful our brains are. They reinforce malleability within themselves.
THE BEST you can do this is by filing the blank everyday. Each day, spend a minute, finish that sentence with a new reason.
“I’m good at changing & improving my mind because _____” —— because i ran an extra mile today — because my Maggie tastes less like crap than yesterday — because I spent a day without opening Instagram …..
These answers are reinforcing the fact that “you can always change”, you can be better, you can DO SHIT.
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Creating 2 task lists
Keeping two tasks list is a secret little productive hack. Your productivity sky rockets by just creating a to-do list. To upgrade the benefit, create 2 tasks list.
First list - all the important tasks you should do while at your best. Top priority, distraction-free tasks fall under this list.
Second list - all the important tasks you can do reagardless of any mood. Ones which need less concentration.
This simplifies the choice of ‘what should i do now’ dilemma. So that next time you don’t have to look at 10 set of tasks to choose from, instead only choose between top 2. You can do the rest later.
This extra few seconds trick is incredibly helpful. Whenever you are stuck at other work or feeling off, you can simple do the important tasks and call it a day.
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Count upto 5 deep breaths.
Have you seen, whenever something stressful happens, or someone’s panicking, they are asked to take deep breaths. It’s a very basic technique to ward of thoughts and calm your mind.
As humans, we are creatures made of fear. Fear has protected our ancestors from being eaten off by animals. It’s a primal force of life. The opposite is true too.
Calmness. Deep breaths signifies safety and calmness, which was somethign rare to a Paleolithic human. So every time you take deep breaths, you are signaling your brain that you are safe (and not about to be eaten by an animal!).
This is why, take at least 2 mins to take deep breaths. Seated wherever you are. Nothing fancy. Even better if you close your eyes. Truly, you can’t deny the difference it makes.
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List 3 things you are grateful for
“I’m so busy, i can’t even watch my fav movie.” “I hate to eat this same dinner every other day”…people complain all the freaking time. None of us are truly saints here. However, the nicest thing is to be grateful.
Don’t tell me there’s nothing to be grateful for. That’s a lie. Living, breathing, having internet at your disposal. People you care for. There’s so much to be grateful for every SINGLE day.
Write three things you are grateful, thankful for. Just a few minutes today. Do that again tomorrow. And every day. You’ll start noticing more and more good things. This is how to teach your brain to focus on good things.
You save your time by serenely smiling instead of constant complaining.
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Pack-up and move to Mars
What? You didn’t know people are buying properties on Mars? Did you at least book the ticket to visit Neptune? Do you think Earth is the ONLY planet with life! What a dummy.
An average person believes 90% of things that were told to him. Stick to the same old rules. Did you know that for more than period of 100 years, people believed that earth was flat. Don’t be that idiot who believes earth is the only life-inhabiting planet and other lies we are told about.
Be open to new concepts. Adapt your brain to new ideas. Spend 2 minutes to read something that breaks your logic. Everyday.
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Make a lofi/instrumental playlist
There’s never too many playlists. Playlist for working out, meditation, while at work, while reading….. you get the point.
Music sets the mood. Even better, if you’ve created only yourself just for that particular task. The chances are you might even do more than intended to. What a triple whammy!
It takes just 2 minutes. Open the app. Search for 10 songs that come to your mind. Find it’s instrumental version. Now your life’s not the same as before.
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Read newsletter of someone you look up to
They say you’re the average of 7 people you hang out with. What do you think is the best place to hang out with on the internet? Newsletters.
Newsletters and personal, shirt, specific to the niche. And it is the best place to hang out with the person who writes them. Spend two minutes, read a little bit of the same letter everyday (until the next one comes). Before you know, you are already 1/7th part of the person you want to be.
I would even extend it by saying, you should try writing a newsletter too. Send it to two of your best friends. Share it along. Who knows, you might build a community of like-minded people. A tribe.
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Walk around your room.
Have an extra 2 minutes? Use stairs over elevator. Walk to the cafeteria with your friend. Make use of your lonely, lovely terrace. None of these are possible? Get up and walk around your room!
Nothing is off limits. Get that blood flow to your head. Nothing NO-THING can substitute a walk.
These days, neuroscientists can hook up our brains to machines and figure out what works best —and guess what’s the best activity is — walking. So walk.
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Watch a TedEd video before you sleep.
I agree, this might take more than JUST two minutes. But I’d still like to convince you okay?
Did you know that Kekul figured the chemical structure of benzene while asleep? He dreamt of a snake-eating it’s own tail; which led him to connect the dots and realized that benzene was ring-like. What a magical phenomenon, right?
Idk, if our souls actually go on a bus ride while we sleep (lol) —but they surely come up with solutions to complex thoughts that are difficult to be solved otherwise.
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Draw a doodle.
You could argue that you’re bad at drawing. Start from a leaf. Draw exactly the way you see it.
Let it be bad, messy. Ugly even. The worst thing that happened is you wasted a minute on it. But, it’s one exercise for your mind to look at a thing and think in ways it hasn’t before.
Pictures say a thousand words.
Some of the most brilliant genius throughtout the history were artists. It just cannot be a coincidence, can it?
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If you made it this far, take is wasy. Try a few of these tips. Whichever the ones you like the best.
Anything thoughtful done with an intention will make you a better person. No matter what.
Be thoughtful of where you spend your time. After all, it’s yours
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