The Five-Minute Rule

When the hardest part of the evening is opening the laptop at all, promise yourself just five minutes on the task, set a timer and begin. If you still want to stop when it rings, you can. That permission to quit is the whole trick, because it turns starting into a small decision rather than a two-hour one. Often you will keep going well past the timer, and on the nights you do not, five minutes of review still beats none. It suits anyone who puts off studying out of dread rather than lack of time, and it hands over neatly to a Pomodoro once you are moving.