Time Optimism at Work: Why Smart People Underestimate Time and How to Fix It

You are familiar with the feeling of dread when you glance at the clock.

You were sure you had time. You were calm. You were even proud of yourself for staying relaxed. Then reality hits. The meeting starts in five minutes, you are not dressed, and your laptop is still updating.

If such an incident happens once in a while, that is life.

If it keeps happening, even though you are competent and motivated, it is not laziness. You are dealing with a brain pattern.

At MindLAB Neuroscience, I’ve coached high performers for more than 25 years. Founders. Attorneys. Surgeons. Traders. Creatives. They are capable, driven, and usually very self-aware. However, a recurring issue plagues many of them.

They chronically underestimate time.

They can manage risk, read people, and solve complex problems. But they can’t seem to arrive on time, finish a task when they said they would, or stop the day from collapsing into a scramble.

This is where time optimism comes in.

Summary box: read this first

If you want the short version first, take this with you.

Time optimism is when your brain sincerely believes the future will run smoother than it usually does. It’s not a lie. It’s a forecast.

Time blindness at work occurs when real-time signals do not correct the forecast. You lose track of duration, you skip the buffer, and you pay for it later.

The fix is not more pressure. The fix is better calibration.

You’re going to build a repeatable system that makes time visible, reduces forecasting errors, and trains your brain to trust a new pattern through repetition.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Dr. Sydney Ceruto

What time optimism really is

Time optimism is the tendency to estimate time based on the best-case story in your head, not the whole pattern of your real life.

It feels like confidence.

It can even feel like hope.

You think I can do this in twenty minutes. I’ve done it before. I’ll focus. Nothing will interrupt me.

Then your phone rings. A client contacts you. Your child needs something. The login fails. The file is missing—the printer jams. Your brain did not account for the unexpected interruptions because it was focused on a smooth, uninterrupted mental scenario.

Time optimism is not a character flaw. It’s a prediction bias.

In Sweden, a word has gone viral recently: tidsoptimist. It describes a person who believes they can fit more into the day than time allows. Many people laugh at it because it is painfully familiar.

However, for the person experiencing these interruptions, the situation ceases to be humorous. It becomes shameful.

A subtle twist is that time optimism often sits atop a second issue: time blindness. Time blindness is not just about being late. It is a weak internal sense of passing time. Minutes do not feel like minutes. They stretch, shrink, or disappear depending on attention.

Put the two together, and you get a pattern that can quietly damage trust at work. You damage trust at work.

Why smart people get stuck in time optimism

High performers do not fail because they lack ability.

They fail because their strength becomes a blind spot.

If you are smart, you have solved problems fast in the past. Your brain remembers that. So when you estimate time, you estimate as the person you are on your best day.

You also tend to believe you can push through.

That belief is not wrong. It is just incomplete.

This forecasting bias is a brain shortcut. It is your nervous system saving effort by using a simple rule: I can handle it.

In specific environments, that shortcut keeps you moving.

In a modern workday full of interruptions, it becomes expensive.

The confidence trap

Many of my clients are used to being the person who can do a lot in a short time. So they build schedules that assume they will always be that person.

They forget that the brain is not a machine. It is a living system.

It has peaks and dips. It gets hungry. It gets overloaded. It gets emotionally pulled off task. It gets stuck in decision friction.

Time optimism loves the confidence trap because confidence makes the forecast feel true.

Time optimism versus time blindness versus the planning fallacy

People use these terms interchangeably, but they are not identical.

Time optimism is the optimistic forecast. The belief is that the next hour will cooperate.

Time blindness is the internal tracking problem. It is the failure to feel time passing in a stable way.

The planning fallacy is the classic pattern where people underestimate how long tasks will take, even when they have past evidence. You remember your intention more than your data.

At work, these stack.

You start with an optimistic time forecast. Then you lose time in the middle because of time blindness. Then you double down on the planning fallacy by assuming the next task will be faster.

This is why you end the day with five unfinished promises and a heavy nervous system.

The neuroscience of why time disappears

Time is not a single clock in the brain.

Time is constructed.

Your brain estimates time based on attention, working memory, and prediction.

If you want a simple way to picture it, imagine your brain as a newsroom. Attention is to the editor. Working memory is the desk where the key facts sit. Prediction is the headline you expect to publish next.

When attention is locked onto one thing, the editor stops watching the hallway. Time stops being updated.

When working memory is overloaded, the desk gets messy. You lose the thread of what you meant to do next. Time slips.

When prediction is overly optimistic, the headline stays clean. You do not prepare for delays.

Two ways your brain tracks time

One system is like a stopwatch. It is your sense of duration. How long has it been?

The other system functions similarly to a calendar. It is your sense of sequence. What happened first, second, and third?

When you are stressed or absorbed, the stopwatch gets unreliable. You can work for two hours and feel like it has been twenty minutes.

When you are overwhelmed, the calendar gets unreliable. You forget where you left off, so restarting takes longer than it should.

This is why time blindness at work can look like procrastination, even when it is not. You are not avoiding the work. You are losing the thread.

Dopamine and the pull of urgency

Dopamine is not just pleasure. It is a signal about what matters, what is worth effort, and what is worth chasing.

When something feels urgent or exciting, dopamine helps narrow attention. Narrow attention can make you productive, but it can also make you time-blind.

This is why you can get stuck in a sprint style of productivity. You wait until the pressure hits, then your nervous system locks on, and you power through.

It works until it costs you sleep, relationships, and your sense of control.

This optimistic time forecast often shows up in people who can enter deep focus. They forget that deep focus can distort time.

The brain loves the clean story

Your brain is a prediction machine.

It tries to reduce uncertainty by telling a story about what will happen next.

The problem is that the brain prefers stories that feel coherent and clean. Friction is messy. Friction requires effort. So your brain edits friction out unless you train it not to.

This is why you might genuinely believe that I will answer two emails but then start working and suddenly realize that forty minutes have passed.

It’s because the brain compresses time when attention is captured.

Time optimism often shows up in people who can enter deep focus. They forget that deep focus can distort time.

Why time gets warped at work even when you’re sharp

Time optimism becomes worse at work because work is built to distort time.

At home, time is more predictable. You have fewer forced switches. At work, your brain is asked to bounce between short bursts and deep focus all day. Every bounce changes how time feels.

Here is the key: your brain does not measure time like a wall clock. It estimates time using attention and change.

When your attention is steady, your brain stops checking the time. This is why you can work for an hour and perceive it as only fifteen minutes. Deep focus is practical, but it can also feed time optimism because you remember the flow, not the clock.

When your attention is chopped up, your brain starts over again and again. Each restart has a hidden cost. You reread the thread. You’re opening the file. You’re building the mental map. That cost rarely shows up in your estimate, so time optimism keeps winning.

A helpful way to think about the situation is in terms of event markers. Your brain tracks time better when it notices distinct moments, like walking into a meeting room, sending a final email, or saving a finished draft. When the day becomes one long blur of tabs, messages, and half-finished thoughts, you have fewer event markers. With fewer markers, time feels slippery.

Working memory plays a role here, too. Working memory is the small mental space where you hold what matters right now. Overloading working memory can lead to a loss of focus. You do not just forget what you were doing. Additionally, you experience a loss of orientation within the task. That makes you more likely to underestimate how much is left.

This is why time optimism often shows up as “I’m almost done,” even when you are not. You are not lying. Your working memory is only retaining the simplified version of the story, not the complete workload.

There is also an emotional layer that people miss. When you dread something, time can feel slow before you start, and then it disappears once you finally begin. When you enjoy something, time can vanish even faster. Either way, your nervous system is shaping your time sense.

So if you want a neuroscience-based fix, you stop treating time as motivation. You treat time as a signal.

Time optimism improves when time is made visible, when transitions are protected, and when your brain receives repeated, calm, specific feedback. The goal is not to become rigid. The goal is to become accurate.

The workplace triggers that amplify time underestimation

Work does not happen in a clean lab.

It happens in a noisy world.

In coaching, I see a handful of triggers that reliably intensify this pattern.

Task switching is one. Every switch has a restart cost. Your brain has to reload context.

Meetings are another. Most meetings start late and run long, even in well-run companies. If you plan as if every meeting will behave, your calendar becomes a fantasy.

Hidden steps are another. The email you thought would take two minutes turns into a chain. The quick document requires a login, then a missing attachment, then a conversation.

Emotional friction is another. A hard call can take the wind out of you for an hour. Your brain may keep replaying it, even while you try to work.

When you do not budget for these, you are not making a plan. You are making a wish.

A client story: the founder who was always five minutes late

A founder came to me years ago with a problem he could not solve.

He was respected. His company was growing. He had a sharp mind and a calm presence. But he was always late. Not by hours. By five to ten minutes.

That small gap was enough to cause damage. Investors noticed. His team noticed. His partner noticed.

He told me, “I do not get it. I am trying.”

When we tracked his behavior, the issue was not effort. It was a time of optimism.

He would estimate his morning based on his fastest self. Quick shower. Quick email check. Quick drive. Quick parking.

He did not plan for the reality of the nervous system. A slow elevator. A missed turn. A call from his COO. He experienced a moment of indecision while selecting clothes.

The fix was not shameful. The fix was to retrain his forecasting system.

When he learned to build buffers and to externalize time, his lateness dropped within weeks. The more resounding win was the relief. He stopped living in a constant micro panic.

The time optimism loop

Time optimism follows a predictable loop. Once you see it, you can interrupt it.

Step 1: The clean forecast

You picture the task going smoothly. You do not picture friction.

Step 2: The attentional lock

You start, and attention narrows. Time passes without registration.

Step 3: The surprise signal

Reality hits. The meeting is in ten minutes. The deadline is today.

Step 4: The adrenaline sprint

You rush. You cut corners. You skip breaks. You push.

Step 5: The aftertaste

You feel embarrassed, drained, or angry at yourself. You promise to do better. Then you repeat, because the brain did not learn a new forecast.

Time optimism is not corrected by guilt. Data and repetition correct it.

A quick self-check

Read these and notice your first honest answer.

Do you plan your day with back-to-back blocks, with no gaps at all?

Do you believe you can do a task fast if you focus, even if you have been wrong before?

Do you feel shocked by how long routine tasks take, like email, admin, or prep?

Do you find yourself beginning to prepare when it’s already time to depart?

Do you show up on time only when you feel pressure or fear?

If you said yes to two or more, time optimism is part of your pattern.

If you also lose track of time while you work, time blindness is likely part of it, too.

The neuroscience-based fix: build time realism without becoming rigid

Most people try to fix time optimism with more discipline.

They tell themselves to be better.

This approach does not work in the long term because your brain does not respond to moral lectures. It responds to how time is encoded.

The goal is time realism.

Time realism means your estimates are grounded in your actual pattern, not your intention.

Time realism does not make you boring. It makes you trustworthy to yourself.

A note about personality

Time realism does not kill creativity. It reduces panic. When you have buffers and clean transitions, your brain has more room for insight.

The Time Calibration Protocol

This is the protocol I use in MindLAB Neuroscience coaching when time optimism is costing a client trust, performance, or peace.

It is simple, but it is not simplistic. It works because it respects how the brain learns.

Step 1: Name the forecast out loud

Before you start a task, say your estimate in a complete sentence.

“That report will take me forty minutes.”
“Getting to the office will take me thirty minutes.”

This matters because language makes the forecast explicit. When it is explicit, it can be tested.

Time optimism thrives in vague thinking. Naming it turns it into data.

Step 2: Add the friction factor

Now add a friction factor. Not because you are negative, but because you are accurate.

For most people, a good starting point is adding thirty percent.

If you think something will take thirty minutes, plan for forty.

If you think you will be ready in ten, plan for thirteen.

If you have ADHD, you might need a bigger friction factor at first.

This is how you counter time optimism. You build a new default.

Step 3: Externalize time so your brain cannot bargain with it

Internal time is easy to ignore. External time is harder to ignore.

Use one visible timer. One.

Not five apps. Not a complex system.

A single timer forces a relationship with passing time.

I often tell clients, if time is not visible, time optimism will win.

Step 4: Use a midpoint alarm, not just an end alarm

Most people set an alarm for the end.

That is too late.

Set a midpoint alarm. If you plan for 1 hour, set an alarm for 30 minutes.

The midpoint alarm serves as a crucial reality check. It breaks the attentional lock. It gives you a chance to adjust before you panic.

This step alone reduces time blindness at work for many clients.

Step 5: Build a closing ritual that protects the next block

The most common reason the day collapses is not one long task.

It is the messy ending of each task.

Create a two-minute closing ritual. Save the file. Write the next step. Clear the desk. Set the next timer.

This is neuroplasticity in action. Repetition wires a new loop.

When you close cleanly, the next block starts cleanly. Time optimism has fewer places to hide.

Step 6: Practice the buffer as a skill, not a luxury

High performers treat buffers like weaknesses.

They think I should be able to do more.

The brain does not work that way.

A buffer is not empty time. It is regulation time.

It is the space where you transition, reset, and regain accuracy.

If you want a simple rule, set aside 5 to 10 minutes between blocks. Protect it like a meeting.

This is how you stop time optimism from eating your whole day.

Step 7: Do a weekly reality review, not a self-attack

Once a week, take ten minutes and ask one question.

Where did my estimates break down?

Don’t judge it. Just notice it.

Maybe your emails take longer than you want to admit.
Maybe travel time is always fifteen minutes longer than you think.
Maybe you underestimate how long it takes to recover after intense conversations.

This is how you retrain your forecasting system. Your brain learns from feedback that feels safe enough to absorb.

The 30-day time optimism reset for high performers

Time optimism does not change because you understand it. It changes because you practice a new pattern long enough for your brain to trust it.

Here is a simple thirty-day progression I give clients who want fast relief without turning their life into a spreadsheet.

Week 1: make time visible and stop guessing in your head

For seven days, your only job is to externalize time.

Pick one timer and use it for your work blocks. Do not try to build the perfect system. Just make time visible. Every time you begin a task, say your estimate out loud, then start the timer.

At the end, do not judge yourself. Just write down the real time in one line. That is it.

This week is about honesty, not performance. Time optimism thrives on vague thinking. Data breaks the spell.

Week 2: install the friction factor as your new default

Now you will add a friction factor to every estimate.

You are going to practice planning like a person with a real nervous system, not like a robot. If you think a task will take thirty minutes, plan for forty. If you think a call will take fifteen, plan for twenty.

In coaching, I tell clients to treat these tasks like strength training. You are not being pessimistic. You are building accuracy.

The goal of Week 2 is for your brain to start expecting friction. Once your brain expects friction, time optimism stops surprising you.

Week 3: protect transitions so the day does not bleed

This is the week when high performers feel the most significant shift.

You will create small transition blocks between tasks. Not huge breaks. Just enough to close one loop and open the next.

Before you end a work block, do the two-minute closing ritual. Save the work. Write the next step. Set up the next starting point.

Then take a short transition. Drink water. Stand up. Breathe. Verify the next commitment. These steps feel simple, but they cut the hidden restart costs that time optimism ignores.

Week 3 is where many clients start saying, “My day feels calmer.” That calm is not a bonus. It is part of the neuroscience-based fix.

Week 4: stress test your new calibration in real work conditions

Now you are going to practice accuracy when the day becomes messy.

Pick two days this week and plan them with wider buffers than you think you need. Then watch what happens. You will see where the real leaks are.

Most clients discover one main leak. It is often meetings, travel, email spirals, or time for emotional recovery after difficult conversations.

Once you identify your main leak, you do not need a new personality. You need a new default. You should structure your schedule to accommodate that leak, just as you would design a bridge to withstand wind.

At the end of the thirty days, you will not be perfect. You will be calibrated. And that is the win. When your brain relies on your estimations, your optimism fades.

A case study: the portfolio manager who kept overbooking himself

A portfolio manager reached out because his life looked perfect on paper, but he was always behind.

He would book calls with no gaps. He would arrange meetings systematically. He would promise follow-ups on the same day. Then he would feel trapped.

He was not disorganized. He was overly organized, but his methods were ineffective.

His calendar served as a testament to his optimistic outlook on time management.

He told me, “If I leave gaps, I feel like I am wasting time.”

Therefore, we implemented an unconventional yet straightforward approach.

We renamed the gaps to transition blocks. Those blocks held notes, water, and a brief reset so each meeting did not bleed into the next. Within weeks, he was more present, less rushed, and far more accurate with commitments.

A case study: the operations director who kept overpromising

An operations director approached me with a problem that was starting to affect her reputation.

She was the person everyone relied on. She handled real crises well. She could think quickly, lead under pressure, and stay calm when others panicked. But she kept missing internal deadlines by a day or two, and she could not explain why.

She told me, “I’m not lazy. I’m working all the time. I can’t seem to get the timing right.

When we mapped her week, the pattern was clear. Time optimism was showing up in two specific places.

First, she underestimated the hidden steps. She would plan time for the main task but not for the steps leading up to it. The quick call needed prep—the required data requests for the report. The approval needed follow-ups. The work was not one task. It was a chain.

Second, she lost time in transitions. She would finish one thing and immediately jump to the next—no closing ritual. No reset. No midpoint check. Her day looked efficient, but her brain kept paying restart costs in the background.

Her fix was not motivation. Her fix was calibration.

We kept the protocol simple. She named the estimate aloud, added the friction factor, and set midpoint alarms. Then we added one new rule: every deliverable had to be planned as a chain, not a single block. She wrote the first and last steps so her brain could feel the whole shape of the work.

Within weeks, she stopped living in apology mode. She became more accurate with timelines, and something else shifted, too.

She stopped feeling as though her brain were betraying her.

That is the deeper repair. Time optimism is not just about the calendar. It is about trust in yourself.

What time blindness at work looks like in real life

Others often misread time blindness at work.

Your boss might think you are slow.
Your partner might think you do not care.
Your team might think you are unreliable.

Inside, you might feel the opposite. You might feel like you are always trying to catch up.

Here are the signs I listen for in coaching.

You start tasks later than you intend, even when you care.
You lose time during transitions, like switching from email to deep work.
You underestimate how long small admin tasks will take.
You feel surprised by the clock more than you think it guides you.

When these show up with time optimism, it can create a painful loop. You overpromise because you believe the forecast, then feel shame, then avoid the clock, then overpromise again.

How to communicate about this without shame

People hide time issues because they fear judgment. That hiding makes the problem worse.

Speak in data, not in self-attack. Try, “I’m running ten minutes behind. I’ll be there at 2:10.” Or, “My estimate was off. I’m updating the timeline, and I’ll send the next checkpoint at 4:00.”

Repairs build trust faster than perfection.

Another client story: the attorney who kept missing deadlines

A senior attorney came to me in frustration.

She was not late to court. She was not sloppy. She was respected.

But she was always behind on internal deadlines. She would start strong, then a week would vanish, and suddenly she was writing at midnight.

Her brain was not broken. Her forecasting was.

She had a strong burst system. When the pressure hit, she performed.

But she relied on that pressure to create focus. That reliance is a dopamine pattern. It trains the brain to wait for urgency.

We rebuilt her system around earlier cues. Smaller start points. Midpoint alarms. Visible time. Buffering.

Within a month, she said something that still stays with me.

“I feel like I can finally trust my calendar.”

That is what we are building. Trust.

What to do when the clock surprise hits in the moment

Sometimes you catch it late.

You realize you are behind—your body floods with adrenaline. You feel the urge to speed, interrupt, or skip the basics.

Here is a fast reset I teach clients. It is simple enough to use in a hallway.

First, stop moving for ten seconds. Stillness breaks the panic loop.

Second, look at one clock. Name the real time. Your brain needs a clean signal.

Third, pick the next-smallest action you can complete in 2 minutes. Two minutes matter. It gives your brain a win that reduces threat.

Then make one honest call. If you are going to be late, say it early. Don’t hide.

A clean repair protects relationships. It also reduces shame, which reduces future avoidance.

This pattern becomes worse when you are ashamed. Shame makes you avoid reality checks.

If you have ADHD, this is not just a preference issue

Many adults with ADHD struggle with time perception, working memory, and task initiation.

That combination is a perfect setup for time optimism.

You might feel like time is either now or not now.

You might underestimate how long transitions take.

You might start preparing when you are already late, not because you do not care, but because the cue did not land.

The fix is still calibration, but you may need more external structure at first, such as external timers, a visual schedule, shorter blocks, more explicit start cues, and more buffers.

You are not trying to become rigid. You are trying to become safe.

When your brain trusts the system, it relaxes.

How leaders can reduce chronic underestimation across a team

If you lead a team, you can reduce chronic underestimation without micromanaging.

Start by changing the environment. Build default buffers into meeting schedules, normalize clear start and end times, stop rewarding last-minute hero work as the only way to be valued, and end meetings with one clear next step and one honest time estimate.

You will also want to model reality-based updates. If you, as a leader, pretend everything will fit, your team will copy that.

Teams do not just copy what you say. They copy what your calendar shows.

The deeper reason this hurts so much

Time optimism is not just about minutes.

It is about identity.

Many high performers attach self-worth to competence. So when they are late or behind, they do not just feel inconvenienced; they feel frustrated. They feel flawed.

I want you to hear this clearly.

Time optimism does not mean you are irresponsible.

It means your brain is running a best-case forecast and ignoring friction.

That is changeable.

Your next step

If you have lived with time optimism for years, you may have built a quiet story about yourself.

I am always late.
I cannot follow through.
I do not have discipline.

Those stories hurt because they are not true. They are incomplete.

You do not need to become a different person. You need a different calibration.

Start with one day. One task. One estimate. One timer. One buffer.

Then repeat.

That repetition is what teaches your brain a new forecast. That is neuroplasticity, applied in real life.

And if you want support, this is the kind of pattern we work with in MindLAB Neuroscience coaching: a brain-based system and practice that sticks.

Questions I am Asked Most Frequently