[tchaffee]

Your advice would be just as good as the advice I gave. Because it contains the most important part of my advice:

"Try timing a few things and see for yourself."

The point is that some things in life deserve to be looked at for efficiency improvements, and some things should just get done. Understanding the difference between the two takes some observation. And by observing people who are organized and efficient as opposed to people who are disorganized and procrastinate in the framework of goal oriented vs. task oriented I think it will become quickly obvious to the OP where the difference is.

Making that shift from task oriented to goal oriented hugely improved my own life. I was very focused on collecting long lists of tasks and then trying to optimize them. While I was determining the optimal route for collecting building supplies, dropping off the laundry, doing my grocery shopping, optimizing the cooking process, etc., my friends had already built the pool deck and were on the way to the supermarket... YMMV.

> why this opinion isn't worth a lot without strong evidence

Do you really need strong evidence for something that you can quickly and easily try yourself at home? If I suggest an improvement to your bike riding technique you want a scholarly study or you'll just give it a go?

[jamescostian]

>> why this opinion isn't worth a lot without strong evidence

> Do you really need strong evidence for something that you can quickly and easily try yourself at home? If I suggest an improvement to your bike riding technique you want a scholarly study or you'll just give it a go?

I'm not saying you lack evidence for "try timing a few things", I'm saying you lack evidence for "Goal oriented people actually tend to be better organized and get more things done"