4d • From the Field
Touch It Once (A Constraint, Not a Hack)
I’ve talked for years about the 3-minute rule.
If it takes under three minutes, do it now.
In plumbing, I generally use it to talk about callbacks.
Do it once, do it right.
Future re-work just erodes profit and credibility.
Lately though I'm realizing that rule was pointing at something bigger.
Touch it once.
Not as a productivity trick.
As a constraint for operating at a higher level.
Here’s what I think of as a “touch”:
-Opening the same email multiple times
-Rereading the same draft without deciding
-Thinking about the same task again tomorrow
-Starting something without finishing it
-Passing work forward unfinished because it feels easier now
Every extra touch is a tax. On attention. On energy.
And on trust - especially in leadership.
Most inefficiency isn’t from doing hard things.
It’s from revisiting simple things we avoided finishing.
Thus incurring a dummy tax every additional time our monkey brain revisits it.
Touch it once doesn’t mean “rush.” It means:
>Decide while you’re there
>Finish the thought
>Close the loop
>Or consciously park it with a next action
No half-touches. No mental bookmarks. No future you problem.
This is where it connects back to regulation.
When I’m scattered, I touch everything five times. When I’m calm, clear, and present — once is enough.
Higher standards don’t come from doing more. They come from respecting attention — yours and everyone else’s.
I’m practicing this as a personal constraint. Not perfectly, but intentionally.
What’s one place in your day where you’re touching things more than once - and paying for it?
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Touch It Once (A Constraint, Not a Hack)
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