The hardest part of any task is simply starting. We often procrastinate because a task feels overwhelming or too big to tackle. The “5-Minute Rule” is a simple mental trick to bypass that resistance.

Tell yourself you will do the task for just five minutes. If you want to stop after five minutes, you can. But surprisingly, most people don’t stop. Once you break the surface tension of starting, the work usually flows naturally. The next time you find yourself putting something off, just commit to five minutes. It’s a small promise to yourself that yields big results.