Do you under or over-estimate the time it takes you to complete a task or travel?

Wondering how you can get a better handle on your time in general?

In this post, I present five factors to keep in mind whenever you have to estimate your time.

Your familiarity with an environment or location.

How familiar are you with your work office, local gym, cafe or supermarket? Chances are you’re quite familiar. You can visit any one of these places quite easily without batting an eye.

Things can change drastically when you find yourself in unfamiliar surroundings. You’re a bit more cautious and tentative in your actions. Plus, you spend a bit more time trying to get accustomed to everything. Take this into consideration the next time you find yourself going into unfamiliar territory.

The state of local traffic.

No matter where you live in the world, or what mode of transportation you use, your movements will always be affected by the local traffic. Depending on how light or heavy traffic is at any given point in the day, you can arrive super early or late to an appointment. Unfortunately traffic is one of those things you just can’t control. You can take precautions though, by factoring in some additional travel time to be on the safe side.

Travel related tasks.

It’s no surprise a trip down the street will take a shorter amount of time than a trip halfway around the world. Yet there’s another factor that comes into play: all those little tasks and actions related to your travels. Hopping on a local bus and paying your fare doesn’t take a lot of effort, but going to the airport for an international flight means going through security, checking-in, checking your bags and so on, all before you can actually get on the plane.

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The local weather.

Whether it’s a sunny day, snowstorm or thunderstorm, your time will be affected by Mother Nature, like it or not! Traveling delays are inevitable when the weather is really foul and can even pop up when the weather is pleasant (sun glare anyone?). If you live in an area of the world where it gets cold in the wintertime, you know it takes time to put on snow boots, a scarf, parka and gloves, not to mention scraping off snow and ice from your car’s window, roof and hood.

Other people’s involvement.

Having other people involved in your work, travels or anything else automatically takes up more time. Not only are you dealing with people at that particular point in time, you also have to communicate with them in advance about your meeting arrangements, who’s bringing what materials, and so on. While it may be a case of “the more the merrier,” managing your schedule with others just takes time.    

How about you? What factor seems to trip you up whenever you have to do some time estimating? Join in the conversation and leave a comment below!