The
Underestimator
Underestimators are well-
intentioned but occupy an
alternate reality where time
has no meaning. ‘I ask clients
like this how long they think
a task will take, and then I
give them a certain amount
of time to complete it,’ Zander
says. ‘When the time to stop
comes, they are so, so wrong.’
Underestimators are afraid
to find out that they can’t do
everything, or they obsess
over and take too long to do
other things, Morgenstern
adds: ‘When a person looks
at what is in front of her inadvance, she is in a position
to make better choices.’
THE FIX Get grounded in
reality. Morgenstern breaks
clients of this habit by making
them time themselves. Choose
a situation or task that you’re
regularly late on and study
yourself doing it on three
separate occasions. Calculate
your average time. If you’re
horrified by the black hole of
your schedule, go through all
of your upcoming tasks and
apply one of Morgenstern’s
Four Ds to each one. Delete:
If it’s unimportant, don’t do
it. Delay: Reschedule the task
for a better time. Diminish:
Break a bigger project into
parts and dedicate just one
hour a day to it. Or Delegate:
Give all or part of your task
to somebody else.‘THIS
SHOULD
ONLY TAKE
A MINUTE...
‘I’M SO
BUSY – THERE
JUST AREN’T
ENOUGH HOURS
IN THE DAY!’
Don’t let time
wear you down...The Time Martyr
WORDS BY JUDITH OHIKUARE. ISTOCKTime Martyrs jump at the
chance to do everything for
everyone, often neglecting
their needs in the process.
They volunteer to host their
cousin’s bridal shower and
create the spreadsheet of
emergency contacts at work,
but at the expense of making
it to the Spin class they’ve
wanted to try or digging into
their passion project. While
they feel validated and useful
to others, they’re often over-whelmed, feel unfulfilled and
are usually tardy to the party- a hefty trade-off that can
lead to eventual burnout.
THE FIX Start saying no. It ’s
true that saying yes to every-
thing can help to accelerate
your career – and socially,
you’ll never miss a chance
to help a friend. But double-
and triple-booking yourself
means the time you spend in
any single place suffers, andyou have no time to take care
of yourself. When you are
given a task that goes above
and beyond, Morgenstern
advises buying yourself a
little time before immediately
answering ‘Sure thing!’ Say:
‘I’d love to do it, but here is
everything I’m working on
now. Can you help me choose
between these?’ Morgenstern
says most employers respect
this response, especially when
it means the work gets done
well. The same goes for your
friends, who’d rather spend
time with the most present
version of you. #3
4
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