The 45-minute rule for first steps

Most goals stall at the first step, and usually the step is simply too large. “Research coffee bars” has no edges. You can spend three evenings on it and still feel you have not started.

A useful test is the 45-minute rule. If you cannot imagine finishing a step in one sitting, with nobody’s permission and with what you already have, it is not a step yet. It is a small project wearing a step’s clothes.

1. Name the output. A first step ends in something you can point to: a list of five cafés, a one-page budget, a booked call.
2. Remove the dependency. If it needs someone else’s reply, the step is “send the message”, and the reply is the next step.
3. Cut the scope in half. If forty-five minutes still sounds optimistic, halve the output and run the test again.

The point is not speed. A step you can finish tonight gives you evidence that the goal is real, and that evidence is what brings you back next week.