Karl Craig-West

Seem to have spent a lot of time lately building websites. Not that I mind but it has occurred to me that even something that you think might not take too long actually takes ages.

To be honest I ought to know better. I spent years working in the IT industry and in technology it always seemed that what, on paper, should have been a 15 minute job often takes over an hour to complete.

At the moment I have to install a new wireless router at home since our current one is on the blink. In theory it should take less than half an hour but the reality is likely to be much different.

So, just to be on the safe side, I'm allowing 90 minutes for the task. I figure that if I give myself plenty of time then I won't have to rush and I ought to get it done fairly quickly.

Now there is a moral to this story.

The key is this: Do you allow yourself enough time to complete tasks?

If you don't then you could be setting yourself up for stress and disappointment.

If you only allow just enough time to complete a car journey and the traffic is slow then you've set yourself up to be late. A good example is DIY jobs that often take longer than anticipated (at least they do for me).

The point I'm trying make is that many jobs take longer than you think. So if you allow some slack time in your plans then you're less likely to get stressed because of a looming deadline.

I know this is easier said than done in today's time-short high-pressure western world. But if you begin to develop the habit of allowing enough time to finish things, then your stress levels will probably go down and you're likely to find yourself actually getting more done overall.