2-hour rule. AKA everything takes double the amount of time you think it will.

Everything takes me longer than I think it will.

Double, usually.

So, why do I continue to think things will take less time?

Because:

• I’m unwilling to accept that I can’t ‘get everything done’

• I believe it means something negative about me that I can’t do that much

• I have a lot of disappointment to deal with if I schedule my time correctly (people will be let down, I won’t get to do A LOT of what I ‘want’ to do)

• I don’t track my time effectively

• I forget that when I begin working, all sorts of interruptions can happen and I don’t plan buffer space

I usually plan tasks to take 1 hour.

They always take 2.

So, I’ve started planning my time in 2 hour blocks, which begins to look a lot like I’ll be getting less done but I can tell you this, I get a lot less done with a lot more emotional energy spent by pretending I can do it all.

Unless it’s a task that requires hardly any thinking and I can with certainty say it’ll take 10 minutes, I make it 2 hours.