The reason that 30-minute task took 2 hours.

We’ve all been there. You block off two hours to clear out a few small admin tasks—emails, an expense report, some backend cleanup you’ve been avoiding.

You figured you’d be done in 45 minutes.
But two hours later, you’re still at it—spiraling deeper into digital clutter, rewriting things that didn’t need rewriting, and clicking around in places that had nothing to do with the task you were supposed to be finishing.

This wasn’t a time management problem. It was Parkinson’s Law in action.

And in this case?
The least energizing, most avoidant work took over the day—not because it needed to, but because we allowed it to.

Timeblocking is powerful.
But it doesn’t protect your capacity if you don't pair it with boundaries and clarity.

When I give a task more time than it deserves, especially one I don’t enjoy, it will always find a way to sprawl.
The work itself doesn’t expand—my resistance does.

So how do you fix it?

Shorten the block.
Shrink the task.
Be ruthlessly clear about what done looks like.

Not every item on your to-do list deserves 90 minutes, 12 tabs, and three rounds of second-guessing. Sometimes, “done is better than perfect” isn’t a cliché. It’s a survival strategy.

This week…

Pick one task you’ve been over-allocating time to.
Give it half the time you usually would—and commit to finishing.
Notice what shifts when you shrink the container.