Beware of What Mr. Hofstadter Said, Before Starting Any Project

Today, I weeded the garden and picked up leaves instead of making money.

I admit it: I love mundane gardening tasks.

For me, it's meditative.

I can turn off my mind, move around, and create something.

That's all I need. - Pretty simple-minded, I know.

As I said, I admit it.

And as I was working away, I noticed something important.

Whatever I set out to do, in the end, it takes MUCH longer than I thought to get it REALLY DONE.

It always goes like this: I start and think, "this will be done quickly." But as I work on it, one thing leads to another.

For instance, after removing the first weeds, I see many more between the cracks of the stone slabs.

This means, with every step I take, I only then see another, deeper layer that also needs addressing IF I want to do the job completely.

I hadn't seen this layer before.

It was hidden by the more obvious areas.

When I think about it, it's the same with every project in my company.

At the beginning, it seems easy to implement.

But once I start, I encounter new problems I hadn't seen before.

If I really want to finish the job, I have to solve these problems too.

With the chance that this leads to even more tasks.

And... in the end, the whole project took much longer than I had originally expected.

I'm not the first to realize this.

As Hofstadter's Law states: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."

The question remains:

What do I do with this realization to be more successful?

First: I know the principle.

If I know in advance that my project will take longer and be more complicated than expected, I won't lose motivation as quickly.

I saw it coming, so it's not as frustrating.

This helps me keep going.

Second: I keep the project small.

I've started to keep projects as small as possible.

Why? I've experienced too often that even small projects become big.

I'd rather have a small part truly completed than start a too-large one and leave it unfinished.

That's my strategy for now.

I expect my project to take longer than thought, so I make it as small as possible from the get-go.

Then, once I've truly finished it, I can move on to the next one.

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