• The Tonic
  • Posts
  • The “One Minute” Rule That Changed Everything

The “One Minute” Rule That Changed Everything

A single, tiny habit that might just flip your whole day.

Author

Seth Thomas
November 20, 2025

In partnership with

Hello all,

Buried under a pile of tasks, a group of overwhelmed professionals recently tried a radical, low-hype experiment: The “One Minute” Rule. If any job would take less than sixty seconds, they did it instantly. No scheduling, no procrastination. Despite its simplicity, the impact was unexpectedly dramatic.

As kitchens got cleaner and inboxes shorter, something else shifted: people felt momentum. Stress fell, focus rose, and the sense of being “behind” faded. That’s the magic - conquering tiny hurdles stacks up, and suddenly the big stuff doesn’t seem so impossible. (It’s a trick the best productivity coaches swear by, but the research backs it up - tiny wins build real confidence.)

Try This:
Pick five “micro-tasks” around you right now. Dishes in the sink, papers on the desk, overdue “thanks” text, that tab open for days. Set a timer for five minutes and clear them all, lightning round style.

If you have a couple minutes, this is a pretty interesting article:

The Power of Small Wins

What is the best way to motivate employees to do creative work? Help them take a step forward every day. In an analysis of knowledge workers’ diaries, the authors found that nothing contributed more to a positive inner work life (the mix of emotions, motivations, and perceptions that is critical to performance) than making progress in meaningful work. If a person is motivated and happy at the end of the workday, it’s a good bet that he or she achieved something, however small. If the person drags out of the office disengaged and joyless, a setback is likely to blame. This progress principle suggests that managers have more influence than they may realize over employees’ well-being, motivation, and creative output. The key is to learn which actions support progress—such as setting clear goals, providing sufficient time and resources, and offering recognition—and which have the opposite effect. Even small wins can boost inner work life tremendously. On the flip side, small losses or setbacks can have an extremely negative effect. And the work doesn’t need to involve curing cancer in order to be meaningful. It simply must matter to the person doing it. The actions that set in motion the positive feedback loop between progress and inner work life may sound like Management 101, but it takes discipline to establish new habits. The authors provide a checklist that managers can use on a daily basis to monitor their progress-enhancing behaviors.

hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins

The Nudge

Reply to this email with the most surprising thing that got easier after your lightning round. I’ll share the best reader stories (with your blessing) next week.

See you soon,

Seth

84% Deploy Gen AI Use Cases in Under Six Months – Real-Time Web Access Makes the Difference

Your product is only as good as the data it’s built on. Outdated, blocked, or missing web sources force your team to fix infrastructure instead of delivering new features.

Bright Data connects your AI agents to public web data in real time with reliable APIs. That means you spend less time on maintenance and more time building. No more chasing after unexpected failures or mismatches your agents get the data they need, when they need it.

Teams using Bright Data consistently deliver stable and predictable products, accelerate feature development, and unlock new opportunities with continuous, unblocked web access.

If you like our newsletter, share with your friends.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase. These earnings help us continue investing in the newsletter to keep bringing you valuable content every week - thank you for your support!