1) Use The 20 Second Rule Make things you shouldn’t do take 20 seconds longer to accomplish (moving the ever-buzzing phone across the room) and the things you should do 20 seconds easier. Via The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work: I like to refer to this as the 20-Second Rule, because lowering the barrier to change by just 20 seconds was all it took to help me form a new life habit.