Write More Than You Could Ever Imagine

If You Apply The “2-Minute” Rule To Your Creative Life

“The point is to master the habit of showing up.”

-James Clear

I have often looked around at some of the writers and creators around me and thought, “If that person has the ability to spew out thousands of words at a time, publish an article every day, and be a model of consistency — surely I can too, right?”

Perhaps, but it’s not that simple.

Maybe you find yourself in this category.

You have the best intentions. You know are a capable writer. You like to tell stories and you are generally a good communicator, but when it comes to churning out meaningful content for the world to consume — you cannot seem to get over the hump as a creator.

You struggle to shake the feeling there is a productive — possibly even a prolific writer inside you. One who sits down at appointed times and cranks out premeditated works of greatness to be shared out into the world.

You experience great ideas zapping you in the shower. Analogies creep up on you while you’re out on a run or mowing the lawn. And yet — you rarely write anything. Or if you do it is not nearly as much as you would like.

Despite your wellspring of ideas and your own unique blend of experiences and perspectives, we will never know what golden nuggets might have been offered to us because you have not developed the discipline to sit down and let your creative monster out.

Don’t worry — you are not the problem.

You have the intentions, ability, and MOJO to make it happen. And you have a tribe that is thirsting for something that only you can quench.

The obstacle in front of you is the sheer fact The World wants to stop you. It does not want you to be living your best story — which includes stopping you from discovering your creative calling.

The Resistance, as Steven Pressfield has famously pointed out, is a monster that will continue to exploit your monkey brain and your deepest insecurities into thinking you don’t have what it takes.

I’m here to remind you do have what it takes. You just need some help.

Imagine a day of waking up, throwing on your pot of favorite craft coffee, and militantly heading into your creative lair to further develop what you were working on yesterday. Picture a life filled with scenes of writing production you did not think were possible.

This hypothetical day is indeed attainable if you will begin to adopt the one hyper practical rule that has helped me so much in recent years across all areas of my life.

The 2-Minute Rule

“To begin, begin.”

-William Wordsworth

For years I could not get myself to regularly exercise like I did when I was younger.

Like the predictable seasonal patterns in the course of a calendar year, I would inevitably be confronted by the gradual erosion of my fitness levels and bounce back into whatever exercise regimen fads were in close proximity only to fall off the wagon once again

I would jump back into things for 3–6 months. I tried running half marathons and joining every kind of gym or a crossfit box imaginable. I attempted P90X, Insanity, and a plethora of other “7 minute workout” varieties I found on Pinterest — but I could never make any of it stick.

I would eventually fall right back into where I had been before — stuck idle on the couch.

Then one day I stumbled upon the concept of the 2 minute rule.

The basic elements of the 2-minute rule are these:

1. Imagine what you want to do
2. Focus on what part of that thing you could do in the next 2 minutes.
3. Commit to doing only that thing.
4. Do that thing.
5. Give yourself permission to reevaluate what you want to do next.

This simple process helped me transform from couch potato into pulling off running a mile every day for a year. Eventually I was able to morph into a Garage Gym Athlete, and 18 months later I’m in some of the best shape of my life.

This metamorphosis is largely due to the subtle mind trick of the “2 minute rule.”

Practically speaking, here is an example that illustrates how this process worked for me with exercise:

Let’s say that your goal is to run 2 miles tomorrow.

Within the parameters of the “2 minute rule”, your target should not be to simply will yourself into running those 2 miles. Instead, your only action item is the bite-sized approach of identifying the very first thing you can do in 2 minutes — putting your running clothes on. That’s it. Here is the process of the rule in action for getting that run in:

1. You make a deal with yourself. In the next 2 minutes your only commitment is to lace up those running shoes and reevaluate what you do from there.
2. After that you need only negotiate what subsequent steps you can accomplish in the following 2 minutes. “I’m going to walk out my door and on to my street.”
3. Then you repeat the process — all the while giving yourself permission to hit the eject button at anytime.
4. “OK, I’ll just start jogging for two minutes. After that I can either turn back or just walk for a while.”
5. Now that you’re all warmed up, reevaluate what you want to do next. Maybe you walk again. Maybe you take a break. Maybe you start running even faster.

The genius of this concept is that it has a way of subverting your biggest obstacles by faking out your lizard brain. It works because deep down in your subconscious you want to keep going.

2 minutes of jogging quickly turns into 10 minutes of running once you have realized that you are rising above the obstacles that were paralyzing you just moments ago.

Action begets action. More running begets more running.

The same method holds true for writing.

I used to write 1 article every few months. As a husband and father of 4 with a full plate in the construction industry, the resistance would rear it’s head on me time and again by weighing me down with the perceived fear of my daunting writing aspirations.

Now every month I’m writing more articles than the month I did before. Eventually I expect to be publishing some kind of essay to share with the world on a daily basis, and I credit a large chunk of this transformation to the 2 minute rule.

Some of you out there have no issues vomiting up 5,000 words at time, but the rest of us need a hack to get by.

Rather than worrying about mustering up the wherewithal to churn out 1,500 words on that article idea you have, try simply breaking things down into manageable steps and give yourself grace to step into one — and only one — action you can execute on.

Don’t worry about your voice or your vocabulary or the structure of your piece. Instead, focus on “putting those running shoes on.” Here is what the 2 minute rule might look like for ramping up your writing production:

1. Resolve to only list out 5 different article ideas in the next 2 minutes.
2. Then set a 10 minute appointment to sit in front of your keyboard and stare at the screen. Don’t make any agreements beyond that.
3. If you make it that far then cut a deal with yourself to produce 10 or 20 sentences stemming from the topic you have in mind.
4. After this go and add a personal anecdote or two.
5. Now make one sweep of editing your work thus far. Do it again.

Eventually you will realize you are no longer having to con your way into writing — you will just be writing.

Everything else will take care of itself.

“Failure is not a person, it is an event.”

-Zig Ziglar

You are not an incapable writer. You just need to master the art of showing up. The next time you have an itch to produce something, don’t tell yourself you will wait until the stars align and the perfect circumstances find you. Be proactive and ask what you can get done in the next 2 minutes.

It will be more than you ever thought possible.

Here’s how you can get the rest of my writing.

Ryan Douglas Martin resides in a northern suburb of Dallas, TX with his wife Katie and four children Kaisley Grace, Elijah Wyatt, Judah West, and June Selah. He helps operate a family construction company by day. He’s on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and occasionally Facebook. Though he’s probably never had an original thought, he possesses an omnivorous appetite for the insights of teachers much smarter than Him and he enjoys spreading their work widely. He is a Storyteller, and his mission is to help bring value to people by exploring, explaining and building community.