Two Minutes Matters: What I’ve Learned About Building Habits

If there’s anything I’ve learned about building habits over the years, it’s this: frequency is more important than length.

I rise in the morning. Immediately, lies enter my head. I feel exhausted. Is it already time to wake up? My body doesn’t feel great and now I have to start my day. If it’s Monday, I might be feeling extra tired after preaching the previous Lord’s Day. I usually start my day by drinking coffee and doing my morning routine.

As I get out of bed, it enters my mind that the amount of work that needs to be done is insurmountable. Christian ministry is open-ended: there’s always something you could be doing. I long to linger in God’s presence through unhurried Bible reading and prayer, but I simultaneously have the urge to skip my devotions to do church work. It’s ridiculous that a pastor would skip his devotions for church work but unfortunately, it happens. On this day, I resist and enjoy time in the Word and prayer. Good decision.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a book. Part of my morning routine is unhurried Bible reading prayer and reading a book for 15 minutes. But on this day, I can’t read for 15 minutes. Since I struggle with all-or-nothing thinking, my reflex decision is to therefore not read at all. Do I skip reading a book for 15 minutes altogether because when I decided to craft a morning routine I put the number “15” down and anything less than reading for 15 minutes is a failure? No. I decide to read the book, but only for two minutes. It wasn’t 15 minutes, but I did something.

Next day comes again. Time for the book again. Again, I set my Fitbit watch for two minutes and stop when I feel the vibrating on my wrist. After a couple of days of reading for two minutes, I realize I’m 20 pages into a book I otherwise wouldn’t have started yet. Two minutes matter. Suddenly, I’m building a reading habit. If there’s anything I’ve learned about building habits over the years, it’s this: frequency is more important than length.

In the personal development world, they like to say that consistency compounds. I like that expression. Let me say it again: consistency compounds. If you want to build new habits, you need to be consistent. Doing something every day is more important than doing it for a long time. Reading a book for two minutes a day is better than reading it for 30 minutes once a month. Don’t neglect the accumulation of daily wins over time.

Building Habits in Minutes

I said that frequency is more important than length. But here’s where the power of consistency comes into play: the more frequent you are, the more that length will naturally grow. That two-minute reading habit will eventually lead to 8 minutes, then 15 minutes, then possibly even 30 minutes. Length naturally grows over time.

How long does it take to build a new habit? It depends on the sources you utilize, but experts will tell you around 66 days. Building a habit, however, might take longer or shorter, depending on the person and the habit you’re seeking to acquire. But while it might take weeks and months for new habits to materialize, it takes minutes of consistency to get there.

Ask any voracious reader you know about how he or she built his or her reading habit, and you will likely find a person who doesn’t have large chunks of time devoted to reading but has learned to read in the in-between times of the day. Right before meetings. At the Doctor’s office. While you’re waiting on your kids. Those little blocks of time between appointments and meetings should be captured for productivity, and for building new habits.

What habit do you want to build? Reading? Exercise? Prayer? In your mind, you think you need a long chunk of unhurried time to begin the habit. Perish the thought. A rough two minutes will do. You should also utilize your free time during the day. 15 minutes here, 45 minutes there. As opposed to mindlessly scrolling social media during that time, use it to develop a new habit.