Ever notice that the time you allot to completing your tasks on your to-do list always seems to take three times longer than you planned? I was complaining to a friend the other day about this same issue, catastrophizing that, “it’s never going to all get done” because everything takes so much longer than planned. This wise friend of mine said to me, “Getting things done in the time you’ve allotted to get them done is just luck. Taking three times the amount of time to finish what you have to do is reality.” For some reason, hearing it from someone else made it a lot easier for me to be okay with the fact that things take the time they need [or take]to get done.
So, I’m writing this to help you feel better. Get over the fact that it takes longer. We spend so much time, myself very much included, getting angry at ourselves because we just can’t get things done in our business and our personal lives in the time we want to get them done. As my friend said, that’s just life. Taking time out of our day being upset about that is antithetical to good time management. Why waste time fretting over things you can’t control.
In next week’s blog, I will provide some helpful tips to manage your time more effectively.