Use the 15-minute rule, advises Gretchen Rubin in her book, Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life . You can accomplish quite a bit in just 15 minutes, and yet most of us fritter away that time on our phones in between meetings or during a commute. Commit to working on a put-off task for 15 minutes without interruption. Stop at 15 minutes. Don't allow yourself to work any longer. Do this every day for a week and mark your progress.