In my last post, I came clean about over-commitment and stretching myself a little too thin. I introduced the concept of scope creep and offered a candid account of my self-imposed pressure. You can likely relate.

It turns out this is a common issue that affects people and companies alike. We collectively suffer from an optimism bias when thinking about our future activities and chances of success. What’s more, we significantly underestimate what success will take. 

In this article, let’s dive into four ways that overcommitment sneaks into our lives and how we can address them. 

Confusing Capability With Capacity

When we consider a new future action, we look only at our capability for that action and ignore our overall capacity. We do not effectively evaluate whether we will have enough resources– mainly time and energy– to complete this action. 

Let’s take my blog as an example. When I set out to post one article per week, I thought I could easily get there by writing 300-500 words per weekday. My plan was to do so in the evenings after my daughter went to bed. Let’s examine this plan.

Am I capable of writing 500 words per day? Absolutely! A typical office worker probably writes more than that on most days if you consider all the emails, reports, and other written communication.

Based on my capability alone, this writing goal seemed doable. But do I have the mental and energetic capacity to write 300-500 meaningful words late in the day? That’s a different story. 

… And Doing Some Bad Math

By late evening, I usually feel completely drained and ready to disconnect. Forcing myself to write 500 words without being super motivated is a bit of a lost cause. I will probably not do it… at least not consistently. 

And if this pattern of forcing myself and then failing to write continues, I will likely come to dread writing altogether. This is counterproductive since I would like this to become a long-term habit.  

When you confuse your capabilities with your capacity, your brain is doing simplistic math. 

“I can write at least 45-50 words per minute. If I stay up at least one hour after my daughter goes to sleep, I will have more than enough time to write 500 words.”

This equation ignores that you need some energy to fuel certain activities. Since that energy is harder to measure than the time needed, it just gets ignored in your calculations. 

How to Fix This: Map Your Energy

1. Understand your energy zones.

See my summary of At Your Best by Carey Nieuwhof. He identifies three energy zones:

• Green Zone – when you have high energy, a clear mind, and sharp focus. Your productivity is at its peak.
• Red Zone – When you have low energy and struggle with attention and trying to do meaningful work.
• Yellow Zone – When you are between the two, not quite at your best or worst.

2. Estimate new tasks in terms of energy required.

Our default estimation of personal tasks often focuses on the amount of time needed. Unfortunately, people notoriously underestimate how much time a task will require (but more on that later). More importantly, it’s easy to completely ignore the other crucial variable for whether the task will get done: your energy! 

Start estimating whether a task is high-energy, medium-energy, or low-energy. Your high-energy tasks cannot be accomplished just at any random time of the day. High-energy tasks will require that you perform them when you feel at your peak! 

High-energy tasks must be prioritized. They cannot just fit in the cracks of your day or after everything else has been crossed off your to-do list. By then, you simply won’t have the energy required, no matter how much time you have left in your day.

3. Evaluate your energetic capacity.

When you think about all the high-energy activities already on your calendar, how much cognitive capacity do you realistically have for this new task or project? 

You may find that you only have 30 minutes of your “green zone” that can be dedicated to this new project. If so, set your goals accordingly. 

Remember that consistency is key. A smaller daily goal sustained over a long period of time will have a higher impact than an audacious goal that completely burns you out in one week. 

Planning in a Vacuum

When we think about a new activity or project, we think about it in a vacuum, ignoring other things already on our plates. 

I don’t know about you, but I rarely only add one new commitment to my plate. When I feel inspired to make changes to my life, it usually manifests itself in multiple areas simultaneously.

So, in addition to writing a blog and creating YouTube videos, I have also decided to add two strength training sessions to my workout routine. Let’s see where I went wrong.

Is it possible to free up two 30-minute time spots in my work week so I can strength train before I pick up my daughter from preschool? Yes, of course.

With a current routine of kickboxing three times a week, I already have a structure that can be replicated. I can structure every weekday the same and alternate between kickboxing and strength training. 

… And Squeezing Every Last Drop

The problem is that I have been able to average three kickboxing sessions per week because I had two buffer days. On the days I work out, I must leave my house by 5:05 p.m. so I can start Kickboxing by 5:20 p.m. and get it done by 5:45 p.m. so that I can pick up my daughter by 6:00 p.m.

This tight schedule is only possible because I picked a workout place that is 5 minutes away from our preschool/daycare and 10 minutes away from our house. 

With buffer days, if my Monday was super busy and I wasn’t able to leave my house in time, I had four more weekdays to get to my minimum goal of 3 sessions per week. But now that I have added two strength training sessions, I have no buffer. I’ve lost all flexibility.

Notice how not having any flexibility can exacerbate your perfectionistic inclinations. You fill your schedule to the brim, squeezing out any margin from your days. 

With my new ambitious schedule, everything has to be perfectly on track, or I will upset the delicate balance I am now required to maintain. 

My options are perfection or failure.

How to Fix This: Subtract and Rebalance

1. Consider the tradeoffs.

I have previously introduced the concept of Systems Thinking and how our lives operate very much as a system. When one component shifts, it affects other parts of the system.

When adding new projects or activities, it is wise to zoom out and consider what other parts of our lives will inevitably be affected by this change.

Every minute of your life is currently filled with something, so ask yourself:

• What will you need to displace in order to fit something new? 
• Where will you borrow the energy you need to pursue your new project?
• What current activities will end up in a supporting role to your new project?

My mistake was that I oversimplified this analysis. I looked at the time I was spending on my phone and added up the time estimates of all the new activities I wanted to introduce.

Based on total time alone, it seemed doable. If I stopped scrolling on my phone, I would have had the time to cover my additional projects. (This, of course, also assumed that my time estimates were accurate. Spoiler alert, they were not.)

But as we learned above, this one-dimensional estimation was not enough. One hour of scrolling on your phone is a passive activity that can be done with little to no energy. I was planning to replace low-energy scrolling with high-energy content creation and exercise. 

2. Protect your margin.

I wrote a whole article about How to Create Margin in Your Life. Check it out.

3. Subtract when you add.

It’s easy to get carried away when you embark on new projects. You keep adding things that seem small when considered alone. But over time, as you add more and more of these “small” things, you will find that you have completely overloaded your schedule. 

Next time you consider adding something new, consider what else you are willing to stop doing instead. The best way for this to work is to swap out two activities that require a similar level of energetic capacity and a comparable amount of time to get done. As much as possible, resist the urge to add something new without subtracting something else.

Underestimating the Work

Humans are notorious for underestimating the amount of time and effort it will take to complete a task. This is referred to as the planning fallacy.

“The planning fallacy describes our tendency to underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete a task, as well as the costs and risks associated with that task—even if it contradicts our experiences.”

The Decision Lab

What’s worse, in addition to underestimating the duration of a specific task, you can oversimplify things by completely ignoring some of the work that needs to be done in the first place.

Can I write an article per week? Absolutely. But besides writing, let’s not forget about editing, formatting in WordPress, adding images, embedding videos, adding a meta description, etc. So even when I have a good final draft of an article, I still need to factor in some time for all the other stuff that needs to happen. An estimation including all of these parts will probably still be too optimistic.

In the same vein, can I record one video per week? My videos run about 10 minutes on average, so even if I had to do multiple takes, it seems that I can get something recorded within an hour.

But when you factor in the time it takes to plan my video outline and main talking points, edit the video, write a description, create a thumbnail, add the timestamps, edit the subtitles, upload it to YouTube, etc. This becomes quite the project! 

Let’s not forget the impact of being a beginner at these activities. When you start something, there is a learning curve that needs to occur. Being new at a task means that it will most likely take us longer than someone more experienced. 

How to Fix This: Experiment

Understanding that your estimates are imperfect is the first step toward addressing this planning fallacy. So start with your best guess, but treat it as an experiment. Reflect on your experience and adjust accordingly.

It will look something like this:

• Think through all the tasks and subtasks that need to be accomplished.
• Estimate how long each task or subtask will take.
• Add this up to come up with your best-guess overall time estimate.
• Make room for these tasks in your schedule.
• The first few times you execute the tasks, track how long they take. 
• Note any steps or challenges you may have missed when planning. 
• Reflect on this experience and revise your original plan. 
• Rinse and repeat until your plan aligns with the reality you experience. 

Planning an Ideal Scenario

When we think about ourselves in the future, we assume our best. Much like Homo Economicus, this idealized version of ourselves is optimized, consistent, and perfectly rational. We expect that version to perform at 100% capacity, with absolute efficiency and effectiveness. 

When I perform exceptionally well, I have a tendency to set that level of performance as my new expectation moving forward.

“If I could do it once, that means I am capable of it. Why would I ever settle for anything less than the absolute best I can do?” I hope you can hear the perfectionism in that last sentence. 

The problem with giving 100% is that you can only do it for so long before you crash. Then, you may struggle at about 50% or even less for the next few days or weeks, depending on how long you can maintain your perfect streak.

After operating on all cylinders, you can end up only doing the bare minimum for a bit while you recover. Ultimately, a perfect week followed by a half-capacity week gives an average of 75%. 

Aiming for 100% productivity is a recipe for disaster. It burns you out and makes you utterly unable to handle any of the curve balls life throws around.

How to Fix This: Aim for 80%

Reset your productivity expectation to 80-85% of your capability and capacity (see the distinction between capability and capacity above). Decide that success means giving no more than 85% of everything you have to give.

Avoid depleting yourself completely from your internal resources (time, energy,  creativity, emotions, etc.) Running on empty means that you will need additional time to recharge. 

Consistency is a much better outcome than drastic ebbs and flows in productivity. Not only do you get better results, but the process of doing the work ends up being a much better experience than constantly overdoing it and then crashing hard. 

Operating at 80-85% also means that you have 20-15% capacity left to deal with anything unexpected. 

Even in the workplace, this idea is taking root.

“Operating at 85% capacity ensures we maintain our energy resources long-term and avoid suffering from burnout. When we leave a 15% buffer in our day, we reserve adaptive capacity for anything urgent and unexpected that may pop up. This way, we’re not caught off-guard, and we have time to address the issue without having to play catch up later with the tasks we set aside.”

SmartCompany

Parting Words

As I look at my life over the last few months, I can see all four of these patterns creeping into my life. What can I say? I know better. Scope creep is a concept I understand intellectually. I studied it to become a certified Project Management Professional.

I read, write, and record videos about this type of stuff. And yet, time and time again, I overcommit myself. I am forced to grapple with the disconnect between what I “know” and what I “do.”

When I get excited about a new project, my optimism and perfectionism go into overdrive. But thankfully, my reflective practice helps me reevaluate my situation and correct course.

I hope you have built your own reflective practice to help you see things more clearly. You don’t need to be perfect; you just need the right tools and guardrails to help you redirect when you have veered off course. 

You’ve got this!