Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Structure and routine
Whatever you estimate, add to it. Fifteen minutes is the figure you get at midnight with empty roads; at midday the same trip takes twenty five.
Do not try to estimate better, since accurate estimating is the thing that is hard. Use a rule you can apply without judgement instead: take your first number and add half again, or round every journey up to the next quarter hour. Being early costs you a short wait. Being late costs you the appointment and the apology afterwards.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Go at a moderate pace (Quran 31:19). A moderate pace is the one that assumes a margin instead of assuming everything runs perfectly.
وَٱقۡصِدۡ فِي مَشۡيِكَ وَٱغۡضُضۡ مِن صَوۡتِكَۚ إِنَّ أَنكَرَ ٱلۡأَصۡوَٰتِ لَصَوۡتُ ٱلۡحَمِيرِ
Go at a moderate pace and lower your voice, for the ugliest of all voices is the braying of asses.’
Qur’an 31:19read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A systematic review with meta-regression looked at which behaviour change techniques explain why some lifestyle programmes hold up while others fade. Simple repeatable rules fare better than plans that ask for fresh judgement every time. The review covers physical activity and eating in adults rather than time estimation, so the link here is by analogy.
Samdal GB, Eide GE, Barth T, Williams G, Meland E. (2017). Effective behaviour change techniques for physical activity and healthy eating in overweight and obese adults; systematic review and meta-regression analyses.. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
A fixed rule works in the place where an accurate guess is not available.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Before planning anything, work out which date is actually true. Does Thursday mean Thursday, or does everybody know it means Friday, and is Thursday even possible?
Bring a child back with the smallest signal that does the job. A tap on the desk, a hand on the shoulder, or simply standing beside them will usually be enough.
Once tasks sit in the week rather than on a list, you can see that Thursday has no room left. Saying no gets much easier when the crowding is in front of your eyes instead of somewhere in your head.