Read this when you keep delaying small tasks until they turn into heavy ones—an email you won’t send, a document you won’t start, a call you keep avoiding—then you spend the whole day “catching up” instead of moving forward. When you feel resistance, start in 2 minutes. Not to finish the work, just to create motion—because momentum beats motivation, and starting is the fastest way to stop wasting time.
You open the document at 9 AM.
You tell yourself, “I’ll start after I reply to this.” Then another message arrives. Then a meeting. Then a quick favor for a teammate. At 5 PM, the document is still open.
Not finished.
Not even started.
That’s the kind of day that quietly trains the mañana habit. Not because people don’t care, but because starting feels heavier than it should.
This article is for two kinds of readers. The person who feels stuck and wants a reliable way to begin. And the person who wants to coach someone else—without nagging, without shaming, and without turning it into a lecture.
Because sometimes you don’t have the problem, but you still need a way to teach the fix.
The Resistance Moment you should stop ignoring
There’s a moment that shows up right before delay.
It’s small. Almost invisible.
You see the task. You feel a little resistance. Not fear exactly. Not laziness. Just a quiet “not now.”
I call it the Resistance Moment.
If you learn to catch that moment, you can change your day. Not by pushing harder, but by starting smaller.
The Do It Now Rule
When you notice the Resistance Moment, do one meaningful start within two minutes.
Not “finish the work.”
Just start it in a way that creates motion.
Two minutes is small enough to lower resistance. It’s also real enough to create momentum. And momentum is what most professionals are missing—not motivation.
Why this matters at work
A supervisor in a government office told me about a recurring problem.
Every Monday, the team promised to send updates to a partner agency. The updates were simple: status, blockers, next steps. But by midweek, the updates were “still being cleaned up,” “waiting for numbers,” or “almost done.”
The partner agency didn’t complain.
They just stopped waiting.
They created their own updates. They made their own assumptions. They moved decisions without the team’s input. The relationship didn’t explode—it simply drifted.
That’s the professional cost of delayed starts.
Not drama. Less trust.
The “almost sent” email
A manager drafts a message to a client.
It’s a simple update. Nothing controversial. But the manager keeps revising the wording. They want it to sound right. They want it to look polished. So they save it and tell themselves they’ll send it later.
Later becomes tomorrow.
The client follows up. The manager replies, “Sorry, busy day.” The client follows up again. By the third follow-up, the manager feels embarrassed—and now sending the email feels heavier than before.
The work didn’t get harder. The delay made it harder.
That’s why the Do It Now Rule is not about speed. It’s about preventing the small pile-up that turns simple tasks into emotional burdens.
Motivation is unreliable. Momentum is teachable.
Most people think they need motivation to start.
But motivation is a mood.
Work is a practice.
If you wait for the right feeling, you’ll start only on good days. And good days are inconsistent.
The Do It Now Rule doesn’t ask you to feel ready. It asks you to do a tiny start anyway.
That tiny start creates a new identity: “I’m the kind of person who starts.” And once a person starts, continuing becomes easier—because the work is already open.
The Two-Minute Menu
Pick one. Do it now.
If the task is an email: write the subject line and the first sentence. If the task is a report: create three headings and drop rough bullets. If the task is a deck: write one headline for Slide 1 and one key point. If the task is a call: write the first three points you need to say. If the task is a decision: list two options and your current recommendation.
Here are two filled examples, so you don’t have to think too hard:
Email: subject + first line — “Quick update on ___: here’s where we are today.” Report: three headings — “Background / Current Status / Recommendation.”
Two minutes is not fake work.
It’s an opening.
And openings create momentum.
Coach script (copy-paste)
If you’re coaching someone, don’t tell them, “Do it now.”
Guide them through it.
“Let’s make this easy. What’s the Resistance Moment here?” “Okay. What’s a two-minute start you can do right now?” “Do that now. Then send me what you did.” “Good. What’s the next small step and when will you do it?”
That script works because it removes shame and replaces it with movement.
Team version: a simple norm that reduces delay
If you lead a team, don’t make this a personal struggle.
Make it a shared practice.
Here’s a tiny norm that works:
Before opening inbox/chat in the morning, everyone does a 2-minute start on their One Move.
Then they post one line in the group chat:
“2-minute start done: ____.”
It’s small, but it changes culture. It makes starting visible. It reduces the power of “mamaya na” because the day begins with progress, not reaction.
The update script that protects trust
Even when you’re not done yet, you can still be credible.
Use this line:
“Here’s where it is now: _____. My next step is _____. You’ll get an update by _____.”
This is especially useful when the task involves other people. It turns “I’m working on it” into a real status update.
The 24-hour challenge (forwardable)
Try this today.
Catch the Resistance Moment once. Do a two-minute start. Then ship one tiny output.
If you want to send this to someone, copy-paste this:
“Today, pick one task you’ve been delaying. Do a 2-minute start the moment you resist. Send me what you did. No perfection—just movement.”
That’s the Do It Now Rule.
Not a motivational quote.
A practical way to stop the small delays before they become a reputation.
If your team is stuck in meetings, misalignment, or slow decisions…
Let’s design one shift they can use immediately.
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