Source: grantbaldwin.com
A very common theme that I have seen is that we usually try to underestimate the actual time that it is necessary for us to finish the tasks that we want to do. We underestimate the task, seeing it easier than it actually is, or overestimating ourselves, thinking that we are capable of finishing this task pretty fast. There is another factor that can make things take a longer period time to get accomplished than we initially anticipated: the unexpected events that might occur.
When you set a lot of items in our to-do lists, you are helping ourselves to get near the inevitable situation of not being able to get all of them done that day. Unexpected things might happen, or the task might be more difficult and you might not be able to handle it entirely that moment you start working on it. Then you have to search online for solutions, read a blog post, and then another blog post about the suggestions only to find out that a few hours have already passed. This might create a lot of stress, because you are unable to handle all the things that you decided to accomplish that day. After that, you might even start to have self-doubts that you are not capable of being productive, because a lot of things are not getting done. Then you might start to think that you should change your career or that you should have less tasks to do each day, which gives you the impression that you have more time to spend on social media and browse aimlessly. Fewer tasks are followed by a lack of motivation to go to work, and less determination to work at a desirable level.
These two extremes are possible scenarios that one might jump from one to the other within a short period of time. I am not suggesting that one extreme is better than the other. Having said that, I am proposing to myself and to you to have a balance between the number of the tasks that we should be working on and their importance. I think we must commit working on things that really matter in the long term, but also dedicate a portion of the day to those that are urgent. Thus, we should try to have a few tasks on our to-do list (not 20, nor just 1) and work on them without having the distractions from our smartphones or inbox tab.
