The Six-Week Delusion: How to Save Your Calendar (and Yourself) from Overbooking

I received a common request in my inbox this week: A marketing company executive wanted to interview me for their corporate blog. These types of invitations are flattering (and I love to accept them), but I’ve found they are hard to link to results. The interviews feel good and increase awareness of the ideas I care so much about, but when I book too many of them, they threaten to steal time.

In this case, I should have said, “No, thank you,” but a flaw in my thinking prompted me to say “yes.” In my reply, I mentioned now was not a good time and that I’d be happy to do the interview in March—which was about six weeks away. This was my rationale: According to my calendar—and my thinking—March was wide open and was going to be a cakewalk compared to the busy January I was knee-deep in.

Only after I really thought about it did I realize that, at the beginning of November last year, January had also looked exactly the same way: open, fluid, and interview ready. But as the calendar page turned into the new year, somehow, behind my back, January somehow started bursting at the seams with numerous commitments. It’s true that as future time always does, future time always will.

Choosing Opportunities: The Tricks Our Mind Plays

The phenomenon I’ve just described is the “Six-Week Delusion,” and it’s a trick our mind plays on us. It downplays the potential busyness of time a bit down the road, making us believe that the future will be calmer and easier than the hectic present.

Now, let’s fast-forward six weeks into my future and see exactly what March will hold. My three boys will still be here; to my best guess, they’ll still need numerous grilled cheese sandwiches, countless car rides, and a patient referee. My personal needs for exercise, home maintenance, and a social life will be waiting for me. My husband and my clients will also need me. Creative business ideas will tap me on the shoulder and demand attention.

In spite of this reality of the future, the beautiful blankness of a blank calendar leads me to a kind of fantastical hopefulness, which affects my choices. I say, “How about later?” And the cycle of kicking the can of busyness down the road continues.

For me, this kind of pain delay occurs only with mid-value requests. High-value requests receive an excited acceptance right away, while low-value requests are sent to the chopping block in keeping with my clear boundaries and a commitment to maintaining open white space. It’s the mid-value opportunities that trip me up because they pique my interest just enough to keep them on simmer but not enough to prompt an immediate yes.

Countering the Six-Week Delusion

To avoid this draining middle ground and the stress of the Six-Week Delusion, I have a solution that works for me most of the time. When a mid-value request crosses my desk, I pause and insert a little wedge of thoughtful time where I ask myself to do the following:

• inventory my motives behind saying yes and ask myself what value I will derive;
• separate (as much as possible) the emotional aspects (such as the enjoyment of being asked) from the tactical ones (i.e., if I really see this opportunity moving our business forward or see alignment with our core goals); and
• imagine what the real March busyness will look like with all its inevitable to-dos and activities.

If I’m still on the fence, I try to choose the “no” because the concept of “less” is always a guiding principle in our office, and I know I’ll never regret having too much time. I also know that any decision that is that painful to make has two strong, close-to-equal options.

The visceral, undeniable feeling that March or April (or any six-week increment) will be simpler and easier doesn’t go away. If I could just use a time machine to visit my nervous system and my workflow in the future, I would. But, until my friends in Silicon Valley make that a reality, I’ll just rely on taking a minute to think about bringing the future into focus and making decisions from there.