Are Things Ever as Simple as we Hope They Will Be?

No matter what we undertake, it seems almost inevitable that things aren't going to be as simple as they are made out to be, or we hope that they will be.

And so, we repeatedly end up in situations where we thought we were going to finish something in a couple of hours and four hours later we're still working on it!

Now, it's definitely possible that I am just somewhat pessimistic by nature, but I am primarily basing my assertions on actual first-hand experience.

Much of the time, we don't really think about a lot of these things... it just becomes a natural part of life that we won't get as much done as we had hoped for.

For example, we don't think about the fact that the blog post we set aside 90 minutes to complete is actually taking much longer because we had to find the right pictures, and we had to resize the pictures, and we had to rewrite some parts, and then we had to do a complete grammar and spell check… and all of a sudden three hours have passed.

Most of the time, we just shrug and accept that it was more work than we thought. So what really happens?

Without being too facetious, when people ask me why I'm running late the most correct answer would be ”because I'm trying to do a good job.” And therein lies a good part of the problem.

Time Estimates Based on Rushing

Part of the problem we often face is the simple fact that "how long we think it will take" is bases loosely on the fastest possible time, and that doesn't necessarily mean doing a good job, just that we (more or less) complete something.

Call me a "perfectionist" — if you must — but sloppy rush jobs have just never sat very well with me.

So let's get back to the question I posed in the title of this post: "Are things ever as simple as we hope they will be?"

The truth is that maybe we are actually asking the wrong question. A better question might be "how long will it take to do something... TO OUR SATISFACTION?"

For me, things tend to be slow and time consuming. Which is part of the reason why I am not writing 3-4 Steemit posts a day, but more something like two a week.

I have also learned to be more realistic about the time needed for gardening projects, because doing a "proper job" takes me much longer than the quick estimates given on (for example) YouTube gardening clips.

"Simplicity" seems to increasingly be a thing of the past... so that leaves us with the choice to simple take on less. And that is what I am teaching myself, these days!

Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? How are your time management skills? Does it seem like things invariably take longer than expected? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 202207027 00:15 PDT
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