“I Need More Time” Is a Lie: Why Having More Time Won’t Fix It

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Repeat after me: ‘Having more time won’t fix it.’

Pick any random day of the week, and it's nothing but a continuous onslaught of urgent and important tasks landing right on our desks.

At the end of each day, we don't stop working because we're done; we stop because we finally realize we’re not supposed to work 24/7. When we call it a day, there are always dozens of pending tasks left lingering. This leaves us feeling discouraged and anxious, and these feelings seep into our lives even after work.

We live in a constant state of urgency—every day feels like the world might end tomorrow. So, we find ourselves thinking:

'If only I had more time to dedicate to this! Then I'd definitely get it done properly and without rushing.'

But it doesn't work that way. And there are two reasons why:

That’s How Companies are Designed

There will always be more work to be done than you can possibly handle. People will always want more from you. Your activity backlog will never be empty. That’s by design.

The ultimate goal of any company is to maximize profits. If you dedicate more time than needed to a task, that has a name. It’s called inefficiency. Your company also has a name for your well-deserved, post-release slack time. They call it the same: inefficiency.

Inefficiency equals less margin, and less margin equals less profit.

For that reason, the company “system” is designed so that the backlog will always be bigger than the available capacity. That is a way to ensure each person is fully allocated and that there always is something to be working on next.

All members of a company have direct and indirect incentives aimed at increasing productivity and cutting down on inefficiencies. What that means is, if you actually had more time, you’d be spending it working on the next task.

So, as I said, having more time will not fix it! And that’s also for another reason:

Parkinson’s Law

"work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” — C. Northcote Parkinson

If you have two days to complete a task, there’s a good chance you’ll get back to it a few times, procrastinate a little, refine it, optimize it, look at it again, over-engineer it, and give it one final touch before delivering it. If you only have half a day for the same task, you’ll probably just get it done and move to the next.

The way our brain works is such that we naturally tend to use all the time we allocate for a specific task, regardless of whether it is required or not.

So, no, having more time will not fix it! Let’s just accept it!

So what’s the solution? Embrace the stress and anxiety? …No, not necessarily.

How Do We Deal With It?

To be clear, I’m not here to preach. I struggle with this every single day.

Most days, I quit work being a ball of stress and frustration. Then I wake up the next day, roll up my sleeves, and try to fight back. Here’s how:

#1: When Prioritizing, Be Brutal!

Be sure you put real priorities on top—don’t just follow who yells the loudest.

There’s no way you’ll be able to handle everything, so just assume you’ll drop some things. There will be consequences, and some people will complain. Be ready to deal with it. Be sure you can live with the issues caused by not taking care of the tasks you dropped.

Once you’ve done that, focus on your priorities. Ignore the rest.

#2: Have Systems In Place

When the tide is high and you feel overwhelmed, keeping mental clarity is hard. That’s why you have to rely on the systems you put in place.

Maintain a clear, visible, and shareable list of priorities. Be ready to explain ‘why’ you picked those and not others. Always know what to work on next.

Finally, develop the healthy habit of:

• Setting clear expectations—Ensure the expected outcome is well-defined.
• Saying no—Don’t over commit, or you’ll end up getting nothing done.
• Raising your hand early on—Don’t wait until it’s too late to ask for help.

Conclusions

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please let me know by leaving a comment or sharing it with a friend.

If there’s a topic you’d like me to cover in a future issue, feel free to send me a message. I read them all. I’m always looking for feedback, suggestions, and new ideas.

Thanks for reading. See you next week. ????

Cheers,

Fusco

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