The One-Minute Rule to get rid of unneeded stress.

You know the stress of remembering uncompleted or pending tasks and obligations? Our brains keep nagging us about them. (There’s a name for that too – the Zeigarnik effect.)

Those nagging reminders only stop when we take care of the task. Or by scheduling it. (Or at the very least putting it onto a to-do task list.)

Gretchen Rubin talks about the One-Minute Rule in her book, The Happiness Project. To silence those reminders, do any task that takes one minute to do the moment you realize it. For example, when the meal is finished, don’t just bring the plates to the kitchen. Take 30 seconds to rinse them and put them in the dishwasher.

Following this One-Minute Rule should free up mental space and give us back time and mental energy to focus on whatever it is that we really want to be using our mind and time for.

What are some ways you can apply this One-Minute Rule?

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