The Hofstadter's Law Expectation
and Your Productivity

Photo Credit: Maurizio Codogno via Wikimedia Commons

Hofstadter's Law is a unique approach towards handling different kinds of tasks, whether it’s simple or complicated. This principle and time management technique can give you several advantages for increasing your accomplishment.

Douglas Hofstadter and his law states: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.”

The law’s statement is about the difficulty of accurately estimating the time for completing most complex tasks.

It is much more appropriate and cited amongst programmers in their concern to improve productivity on projects.

The understanding of the law shows how people widely experience the difficulty of measuring the time they need to complete or finish a task that is complicated and unpredictable.

Why Hofstadter's Law is Important

Douglas Hofstadter is very experienced in dealing with tasks and different activities that vary in difficulty and status. He knows well that his law or principle can bring much significance in your life too.

People tend to underestimate or quickly conclude the time that would be needed for something to be accomplished. This way of thinking is what fails many people of their expectation when hoping to finish a difficult task.

It is not surprising that a lot become frustrated and lose some motivation in the processes of working with something which affects their personal productivity.

So it is best for you not to underestimate a task, making time measurements quickly and jumping into conclusions without careful analysis of the situation. You should give appropriate “time allowance” to everything that you do or must do.

This is what the Law of Hofstadter tries to address and overcome.

The Realistic Way of Thinking

Perhaps you have experienced how an activity or a project expands to fit a time that is available. You’ll notice that sometimes when you create a “to-do list,” you’ll realize at the end of the day how you’re unable to finish everything listed.

So why, you may ask this question.

This is because people tend to set too many goals within a short period of time. A time frame that is not usually enough to complete all the tasks needed to be finished. As a result, you might need to extend your time to complete the other tasks.

Here’s something you should really notice, when you list the tasks and activities to be done during the day you’ll not do everything strait “as it is” on your list.

There are also times, minutes or even hours you might use for things like:

• Procrastination or thinking things around

• Eating and resting

• Social media and interaction

• Watching TV or your favorite show

• Cooking or preparing things

• And more

These are only examples but you should understand the point. If you can lessen the less significant things that you do, it would be good for you and you’ll be able to accomplish more. Hofstadter's Law is also about adjusting yourself.

Other tasks can become shorter in time if you make better methods of doing them. Some tasks can be delayed or ignored and some can be delegated to other people.

Time management strategies and skills will play a significant role on improving your use of time and increasing your personal productivity.

The Hofstadter's Law may be something that most people don’t think about because of the tendency to “underestimate.” But if you’re open-minded with the way things happens in real life and real time, you’ll understand the great significance and benefits of thinking like Douglas Hofstadter.

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