cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Everything should take 20 minutes
It’s the ideal amount of time for all tasks.
Think about a task you wish to or must complete, and imagine how long it should take you. If you are a right-thinking person like myself, the answer is “20 minutes.” A 10-minute task is hardly a task at all, more of a minor interruption, and anything that takes 30 minutes invites the thought that you could have watched a half-hour episode of television instead. Twenty minutes is, objectively, the ideal amount of time — the Goldilocks number when it comes to doing things.
I realized this recently when I was once again running late to an event — only one train ride away — because I had assumed it would take me 20 minutes to get there. I was bewildered and then upset that it took 40. There were no facts or previous experiences or reasons behind this assumption, just the bone-deep certainty that it should take 20 minutes, because that is the correct time for everything.
It’s the ideal amount of time for all tasks.
Think about a task you wish to or must complete, and imagine how long it should take you. If you are a right-thinking person like myself, the answer is “20 minutes.” A 10-minute task is hardly a task at all, more of a minor interruption, and anything that takes 30 minutes invites the thought that you could have watched a half-hour episode of television instead. Twenty minutes is, objectively, the ideal amount of time — the Goldilocks number when it comes to doing things.
I realized this recently when I was once again running late to an event — only one train ride away — because I had assumed it would take me 20 minutes to get there. I was bewildered and then upset that it took 40. There were no facts or previous experiences or reasons behind this assumption, just the bone-deep certainty that it should take 20 minutes, because that is the correct time for everything.