Field notes · Restarting and goals
The 2% rule explained: small daily work that compounds
There are 1,440 minutes in a day. Thirty of them is about two percent. That is the whole idea behind The 2% Solution: give two percent of your day to yourself, every day, and let it compound.
Dai Manuel · Coach Moose · Vancouver
What the thirty minutes is
Fifteen minutes of movement, five minutes of stillness, ten minutes of reading. Movement for the body, stillness for the mind, reading for growth. It comes from the Whole Life Fitness Manifesto, and it is the backbone of everything I coach.
It is deliberately small. Small enough that you can keep it on the worst week of the year.
Why small wins
A heroic plan might get you fit for a month. Two percent kept for a year changes who you are. Habit research suggests new behaviours take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to become automatic, which is exactly why the daily dose has to be small enough to survive that long.
On good days you will do more. That is a bonus. The two percent is the floor you never drop below.
Common questions
- Is 30 minutes a day enough to lose weight?
- Thirty minutes of movement plus sensible eating is enough for steady fat loss for most men. The daily habit also makes the eating easier to keep.
- Where can I start The 2% Solution for free?
- The Power 30 is the free version, written out day by day on dadbody.com.
Sources
- The 2% Solution, Dai Manuel
- The Whole Life Fitness Manifesto, Dai Manuel
- Lally et al., How are habits formed, European Journal of Social Psychology (2010)