September 11th - Time yourself
Sep 11, 2025
Have you been putting off a project because you don't know how long it will take?
Or the last time you did it, it felt like it took forever? Time yourself.
Human beings are, on average, terrible at estimating how long things take. We often misjudge how long common tasks will take, even if we’ve done them many times. This can easily throw of your entire schedule, despite your best efforts, and make it hard to get started.
Lucky for you, there’s an easy solution.
Before you start a task, client session, project, or meeting, start a stopwatch or write down the time. When you’re done, mark the time again and record how long it took. Keep track of this for future reference.
It won’t always take the same amount of time for a similar project. Even a simple task can vary in the time it takes. But after a while, you’ll get a better idea of how much time to schedule and you’ll run long less often.
How does this help you get started? If you are waiting for a tow truck and you know (as much as you can) it will be here in 90 minutes, even though that's a long time to be stuck somewhere, there's a specific end time you can focus on. If you don't know how long it will be, for all your brain knows it could be six hours and starts to spiral. Confidence in timing, even when it's a long stretch, helps your brain self-regulate and focus.
Having a hard time getting started or restarted? Knowing how long it takes could be your key to getting into action!
Download your free worksheet here: September 11th - Time yourself