"La plupart des gens surestiment ce qu'ils peuvent faire en une journée et sous-estiment ce qu'ils peuvent faire en une année"

People often think they can pack a million things into a single day and somehow get them all done. They end up rushing around like headless chickens, ticking off endless to-do lists. But here’s the thing: while they’re often left feeling frustrated and exhausted because they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, they miss out on the bigger picture. The truth is, it’s not about cramming everything into a day but making steady progress over a longer period, like a year, that counts the most.

This idea isn’t new. It’s been floating around in various forms for years. Often attributed to Bill Gates, it speaks to the tendency we have of underestimating the power of consistent, incremental progress. Imagine you’re at the start of a new year, and you decide you want to learn a new language, get fit, and maybe even write a book. The first week, you’re all in—spending hours on each task every day. But then reality hits. Life gets busy. Your initial enthusiasm fizzles out because you’ve set such an unrealistic daily pace. Instead, if you’d spent just a little time each day over the course of the year, you’d have made significant strides by the end of it.

Take my friend Sarah, for example. She wanted to get in shape. January 1st, she hit the gym hard, spent two hours working out, and felt great. But by the end of the first week, she was already dreading those long sessions. She’d overestimated what she could handle daily. Fast forward to February, and she’d all but given up. The next year, she tried something different—just 30 minutes a day. It wasn’t much, but after three months, she saw changes. By the end of the year, she was in the best shape of her life. The difference? Consistency over intensity.

So how can we apply this wisdom to our own lives? Start small. Rather than setting yourself up for failure with an impossible daily workload, break your goals into tiny, manageable chunks. Think about what’s realistic for you to do each day without burning out. If you want to write a book, don’t aim to write a chapter a day. Try for a page a day instead. It may not seem like much, but in a year, you’ll have 365 pages—enough for a novel.

Imagine you’re at a coffee shop with a friend. You’re both excited about New Year’s resolutions. Your friend is gung-ho about learning to play the guitar, and she’s thinking about practicing for three hours every day. You gently suggest she might want to try just 20 minutes daily instead. She looks at you skeptically, but agrees to give it a shot. A year later, she’s not only playing songs effortlessly but also enjoying the process, all because she didn’t burn herself out in the first week.

In the end, it’s about pacing yourself. Life isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. And by making small, consistent efforts, you’ll be amazed at how much you can achieve over a year. So, next time you’re tempted to cram everything into one day, take a step back and think about the long game. You’ll thank yourself later.