#151 - "I Keep Underestimating How Long Things Will Take"

#151 - "I Keep Underestimating How Long Things Will Take"

From The Smarter Accountant Podcast by Dawn Goldberg, CPA

April 23, 2026 · 23 min

About this episode

This episode explores the common struggle of underestimating how long tasks will take and its impact on accountants' daily lives.

Have you ever started your day feeling calm and prepared… and ended it wondering what happened? Do you look at your plan in the morning and think, This is reasonable, only to feel rushed and behind by mid-afternoon? Have you ever been surprised by how fast the day disappeared? If you have, you are not alone. This week's episode is called "I Keep Underestimating How Long Things Will Take" and it speaks to something many accountants experience but rarely talk about. You're smart. You're capable. You take your work seriously. That's why this pattern can feel so confusing. It's not that you're careless. It's not that you don't plan. And it's definitely not that you don't care. Yet time can still feel slippery. Tasks stretch longer than you expect. Space between meetings disappears. Breaks become optional. Work quietly follows you into the evening. And when this keeps happening, it's easy to make it mean something about you. You might wonder if you should be better at this by now. You might question why planning doesn't seem to stick. You might quietly judge yourself for not handling your day the way you think you "should." In this episode, we gently unpack what's really going on…

People in this episode

Host: Dawn Goldberg

Topics covered

  • time management
  • productivity
  • accounting challenges
  • self-reflection
  • work-life balance

Keywords

  • time estimation
  • accountants
  • planning
  • productivity tips
  • work stress

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