It would be cool if we had a repository for the Outside/calibrated view for how long commonplace tasks take. This way we can help one another get around the planning fallacy to a certain degree. Nothing beats direct measurement, but we can possibly save energy if enough evidence comes in to make us suspect that the time a certain task takes doesn't vary.
I could update this thread as more contribute. Depending on the variety of tasks, categories could be created and an index can be compiled. Observe.
Chores
Washing Dishes: 30 mins
Doing Laundry: 1 hour including drying
Rationality
Average LessWrong Post: 3 minutes
"Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions": 4 hours
The main example I can think of is realizing "hm, the amount of time I spend on X is very different from normal." For example, in Nick Winter's recent book he mentions that after he started timing his showers, he was able to take them in less than 2 minutes. I had no reference point for that- I wasn't even sure how long my showers took- and it happened that I normally spent about 20 minutes in the shower, and fairly quickly was able to get it down to 5 minutes.
I don't think that's a particularly compelling example, though, and don't expect that I would personally use this repository. (I stopped timing my showers and trying to make them shorter when I realized they were a major source of physical pleasure in my life, and making them shorter and more stressful was a terrible idea for me. Someone who doesn't enjoy taking a shower as much would probably gain from applying that time to something else.)
Related: Repository Repository
It would be cool if we had a repository for the Outside/calibrated view for how long commonplace tasks take. This way we can help one another get around the planning fallacy to a certain degree. Nothing beats direct measurement, but we can possibly save energy if enough evidence comes in to make us suspect that the time a certain task takes doesn't vary.
I could update this thread as more contribute. Depending on the variety of tasks, categories could be created and an index can be compiled. Observe.
Chores
Washing Dishes: 30 mins
Doing Laundry: 1 hour including drying
Rationality
Average LessWrong Post: 3 minutes
"Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions": 4 hours
Misc.
...: ...
... and so on.