Unrealistic Perception of Time Needed to do Schoolwork, Executive Function Problem

A student’s — what’s up? This is Seth Perler from [The Executive Function Online Summit](https://www.sethsperler.com?utm_source=chatgpt.com), executive function coach in Colorado. I help struggling students navigate this thing called school so you can have an awesome life.

I’ve got a quick tip for you today, students.

If you tend to be the type of student who has a lot of zeros, missing or incomplete work, and you know you could be getting all A’s and B’s, but you just tend to miss details, forget stuff, misplace things, resist tasks, procrastinate, and all those sorts of things — and you find yourself swimming upstream midway through the semester trying to catch up on everything, and this keeps happening over and over — I have a tip for you.

One of the biggest problems that I and my students who struggle with executive function deal with is this:

Listen very carefully.

We often have an unrealistic perception of the amount of time and energy it takes to do something.

For example, let’s say I think: “Oh, I’ve got to drive to my office. I need to be there by noon, so I’ll leave at 11:50.”

Then 11:50 comes, and I’m just barely getting out of the house. I still have to grab my keys, make sure I have my charger, my computer, and all this other stuff. Then I end up getting there at 12:10 because I miscalculated. I had an unrealistic perception of the amount of time and energy it would take to get there.

For you students watching this, there’s no shame in this. This is just reality, and you have to be honest with yourself about it.

The reality is that you often have an unrealistic perception of the amount of time and energy it takes to clean your room. Sometimes you even estimate in the opposite direction — meaning you think something will take an hour when it would actually only take five minutes and be really easy.

But a lot of the time, especially when it comes to school, we underestimate.

We say:
“Oh yeah, that math assignment will only take five minutes.”

Meanwhile, it never gets turned in because that “five minutes” never happened. In reality, if you actually sat down and did it, it would probably take 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, or even an hour.

Or we say:
“Yeah, I can write that paper in an hour.”

But really, that paper takes six to twelve hours. A solid high school paper often takes six to twelve hours when you include planning, drafting, revising, editing, printing, and research.

Or:
“That project will only take an hour.”

But really, it takes multiple days. There are lots of moving pieces. You have to go to the store, gather materials, organize everything, and so on.

The point is that we often have an unrealistic perception of the amount of time and energy it takes to do homework, assignments, projects, and studying.

Studying for five minutes isn’t really studying.

Now here’s the important part:

You deserve an awesome life.

In order to build an awesome future for yourself — a future with freedom, opportunities, possibilities, and the ability to do things you care about — you have to get things done.

And sometimes the things you need to do are things you don’t feel like doing.

So you have to figure out:
“How do I do things I don’t feel like doing?”

Here’s my tip for you today:

Whatever you think something will take, multiply it by 3, 5, or 10.

It depends on the situation. Get to know yourself and be realistic with yourself. But generally speaking, that’s a pretty good rule of thumb for most of my students.

For example:
You think a math assignment will take five minutes. But really, it takes 50 minutes — almost an hour. That’s ×10.

So instead of saying:
“This will only take five minutes,”

you stop and say:
“Whoa. Seth said multiply it by 3, 5, or 10.”

Maybe it’ll take 15 minutes.
Maybe 25 minutes.
Maybe 50 minutes.

Part of doing homework is just getting started:
getting settled,
getting your paper out,
sharpening your pencil,
reading the directions,
looking over both sides of the worksheet.

That alone may take five or ten minutes before you even start problem number one.

And that counts.

You can’t say:
“Well, I haven’t really started yet.”

No — that’s part of the process.

If you think:
“This paper will only take me an hour,”

then multiply it:
Maybe it’ll really take 3 hours.
Maybe 5.
Maybe 10.

The exact number doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you walk away from this video with a practical tool in your pocket that can help your life.

Keep it simple:

Whatever you think something will take, multiply it by 3, 5, or 10.

You think:
“I’ll finish that in five days.”

Well, maybe it’s actually going to take 15 days.

Even adults and parents miscalculate big things sometimes. That’s okay.

The point is:
You want to be realistic with yourself.
You want to be honest with yourself.
You want to set yourself up for success — not failure.

And planning realistically will help.

Alright, I hope you have a great day.

My name is Seth Perler from [SethPerler.com](https://www.sethperler.com?utm_source=chatgpt.com), executive function coach in Colorado.

If you liked this, give it a thumbs up, subscribe, and leave a comment. Tell me what you think.

What’s your reality?
Are you good at estimating how long things take?

And if not — if you’re being really honest with yourself — how much longer do things actually take you?

Leave a comment below and let us know what helps you in those situations.

See you soon.